Tag: faith

Fat Tuesday/Ash Wednesday

Fat Tuesday

We all got scars

On soul or skin

In churches or bars

We all got sin

In the public eye

Or held within

Raise a glass

Sing a song

Go to mass

Hit the bong

This too shall pass

Before too long

Want redemption?

Not tonight friend

Tonight’s for wine

Creating vague memories

We all got wars

We all have lost

We all got scores

Of things they cost

Live today

Pray tomorrow

Find a way

To ease the sorrow

Sin not committed

Cannot be repented

The cycle repeated

As was intended

Ash Wednesday

Remember that you are dust

And to dust you shall return

Are we more than want and lust?

An engine designed to yearn

Repent, and preach the Gospel

Even for the apostate and the apostle?

I repent to those I have done harm

Not to those who I do not know

I carry love for those now gone

As I await my time to go

Our 40 days come with no warning

They just arrive

Our 40 days feel much like mourning

You might survive

If it is too heavy to carry

Take it from the pack

If the weight of it overwhelms

Give it back

The intrinsic should not be surrendered

The extrinsic is not judgment rendered

The ashes on your forehead

Are forever made of you

Gene. G. McLaughlin 2023

The Monkey Sees God in Bananas

The monkey sees God in bananas

The tiger sees the divine in his claws

The crow sees God in the worms of the morning

As he cackles, preens, and craws

Man sees God in the unseen

The preacher sees the divine in his words

The zealot sees it in the crowds that gather before him

As he guides them like an unthinking herd

Let your eyes be your faith and your heart

Let your ears hear the sounds of the divine

Let your own steps guide you to your version of God

As I shall let my feet lead me to mine

Gene G. McLaughlin 2020

Monkey

Breaking Bread Upon My Table

Breaking bread upon my table

We face and judge our hunger

Faith not in the believing

But in the subtle conceiving

Picture a summer watermelon

Sweet pink fruit it shall be

Pouring water at my table

We face and judge our thirst

Tell me what dreams you dream

Comparisons will be made

Faith not in the compensation

But in the stable construction

Picture a tower of steel

Shining beacon it shall be

World starts in broken pieces

Just as chaos swirled before

Piecing together of faith

So slow, progressing

Occasional progress through

Personalities and paradox

What texture does the world take?

Without the faithful?

Around me days are filled with

Purpose and light, without question

Their hearts full

What pulls them out from beneath?

If it is gone?

If the oblivious dwindle

Do the informed continue?

Gene G. McLaughlin 2015

As the Pain Shapes My Path

I’m not done with my damage yet

I’ve got a few more rounds to take

As the pain shapes my path

I’ve got a faith I can’t shake

I’m gonna miss one bit of pain

Before I sleep and then wake

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

So Much Of Spring is Faith

RedFlower

 

So much of spring is faith

A red flower

We were not certain

Would bloom again

Alive once more

It is the unknowns

That winter creates

Which give birth to wonder

Gene G. McLaughlin 2014

The Light Shines Down Upon The World

The light shines down upon the world

And I know it to be something

Fully explained by science

Yet this morning

It feels like love

The lighting scorches the ground

And I know it be something

With reasons for being

Yet this evening

It feels like scorn

My soul clings to my flesh

And I know not what it is and

I ponder disregarding it

For lack of evidence of its tangibility

Yet this day

It feels like all I have and

If I am mistaken

I feel not guilty nor the fool

For detecting the charade

Is far beyond my means

Gene G. McLaughlin 2005