Staying Afloat

Words like whirligig,

puzzle,

firestorm,

words for the day,

sit on my couch

in cozy pajamas

sipping hot tea.

Bring pillows, they say,

and candles.

These lights hurt our eyes.

Noisy seabirds duck and dive

a cove somewhere outside.  Waves

crash the shore.

I listen hard for the music

of salt and driftwood—

for words like ebb,

buoyed,

float.

                                                    

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you…” Psalm 55:22.

© 2016 Jennifer Wagner

Leila

The river turned on her, angry.

Churning water, debris

swirled monstrous around her.

But rivers have rocks,

and in the middle,

“one higher

than I,” she told me.

She climbed upon it,

stayed to her knees, footing unsure.

And the river became an ocean swelling,

spray mighty.  Flecks of sand stung her skin.

Winds rushed.  She closed her eyes.

It raged— it drenched, it raged, raged—

and receded.  A parting of the sea.

And she stood, unscathed,

though not unaffected.

Chains, foul and bound to her infected flesh,

infected heart, had been torn away.

Miseries vanished, banished

like ghosts themselves spooked.

And to the other side—she leapt

to the meadow in sunlight

of promises kept,

and keeps

on leaping

further, farther,

now she’s free.

© 2016 Jennifer Wagner

From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed;
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:2

war for me

my brokenness has borne

the fruit

of a thousand sorrows

piece by piece by piece

piercing by piercing by piercing

arrows of unlove

unbecoming

to become

what can only be

remedied

by the man of sorrows

acquainted with grief

my grief

borne

in love’s long-suffering war

© 2016 Jennifer Wagner

“Love is a long-suffering war.” –Janet Martin, poet extraordinaire

Isaiah 53

Note:  over at dVerse the prompt is to write a secret admirer poem and since my poem is a bit similar to the guidelines of the prompt offered I wanted to make mention of it--though I didn’t write it in response.

photo source