Beauty in the Storm

The hail dents the earth as the little one sleeps

Light in the droplets turns the window into diamonds

And I marvel at the beauty of the storms—

How the thunder speaks rage and yet my heart can find peace

How the babes know they’re safe because it’s always been that way

The rain may wet the roof,

My heart could cave in and the wind might win

But I find myself at home in the eyes of him who holds it all

My nemesis may want to strike fear like lightning

But it’s only a retaliation for the knowledge he holds—

That the sons and daughters of the King of creation

Will dwell secure on the simply composed floor of trust

Metal may rust, wood may rot, I may find my feet in the ocean’s wrath

But my peace is forever, my heart is steady

In every storm, rays break through the clouds

And the children wake with shining faces and no questions

For beauty always trumps violence

 

Dreamer

I learned once upon a time that my heart conflicted my mind

When I met the dreamer on the road, in two more feet I encountered a pothole

The chasm was a mirror, and it reflected my fear—

That I wasn’t enough, I didn’t have the look of a hero

I could open a book, maybe even write a few words myself,

But to venture out onto the unknown causeway—my feet would slip for sure

In my haste to chase the dream, I would come to find that all that supported me

Was ice

And down this slippery slope would go my mind, imagination turning from glory and hope

Into—how do I cope?

How do I face the girl that I am, how do I even begin to unwind

The knotted vine that somehow goes from my chest to my mind?

Why do my dreams disagree with my motion?

How can I long for time with the poets, the dreamers, and others

When just using my mouth and my voice feels like I’ve run ten miles?

 

See, once upon a time I saw this inconsistency, and I thought

There must be something wrong with me

But in reality all these facets weave together in a beautiful, mysterious tapestry

And I was made to discover, I was born to face the wind at the end of the dock

I just need my eyes changed, I just have to give my heart its due place

And the tension I live with is much more than disagreement,

It’s the fire that pushes me to fight, that sweeps me into those wide open fields

And reminds my feet to dance when my mind has pulled me too far from childhood

 

I learned, more than once upon a time, that my heart in fact rhymes with my mind

That it is stronger, and fuller than the lies

And that fear is only a pocket in my thoughts, a pothole that can be jumped

So now, the chasm has become a crack

And now the dreamer can leap from the dock, can take a walk on waves,

Can turn imagination into hope that plays and sings from the cliffs over the bays