Night Walk

Silent, slow, the thoughts at evening go

Unannounced through the remains of the day

Searching for untucked pieces lying low

In hope of blanketing softly, putting away

All wildness and leftover fears

As night falls and dreams draw near.

Crystal Tears

Many friends know the story of my sister-in-law's struggle with cancer. Marti passed away on August 14 at her home in Marble, Colorado. After her funeral, I spent several days with my brother and four of their children still at home. This poem has been winding its way through my heart since then.

Crystal River at Redstone, CO, a few miles from my brother's home in Marble.

CRYSTAL TEARS

Crystal River catch my salty tears,

Meld them with the melted snows

That pass o’er marbled terrains

Catching the Holy Whisper

God whispered my name

As the sound of words

Sublimely wrapped

In golden tones of Graceful song

Filled cathedral space

Yet nestled soft as down

In my heart’s sacristy.

Is God‑love this warm?

Is Christ‑joy this knowing?

Is Spirit‑hope this near?

Does that which is far beyond

Find its way to these light‑dappled chambers

Of personal cloistered space

When angelic sounds

Soar high and low?

Heaven's Books of Prayers

Libraries are one of life’s fine companions, aren’t they? How many pleasant hours in childhood are spent nestled in these corners exploring the world through the pages of books? How many paths to adulthood and discovery are spent perusing and devouring a gamut of subjects? Books widen our understanding, fears, knowledge. They invoke new questions, confirm or deny old suspicions, give us new frameworks for life. Books that are good, true, noble, lovely, admirable, sobering, enlightening, or excellent enlarge us and grow us as individuals, citizens, and communities. 

Clementinum, Prague

From Our Mother's Arms

Everyone has a mother! Regardless of how one perceives their mother's successes or failures as a mom, everyone can be thankful for the gift of life in the same manner that this hymnist writes . . .

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

Life's Small Celebrations

A poem celebrating new kittens for my Colorado nieces and nephews who just welcomed a new batch of kittens into the family. Thanks to my nephew Josh for letting me know!

New Kittens!

New kittens are meowing in the nestbox
As I dream of coming days filled
With kittenly joys
And new laughter in our walls.

Such dear little pittances!

Soft, fluffy, totally dependent on
Love to keep them safe and warm
And full of tasty milk.

In Flight

Soar with me high

On wings of song

Scraping the belly of heaven

In search of our highest praise

And holiest joy and deepest

Reason for wings.

                                              © 2007 Nancy Gerst  

Near Marble Colorado, Photograph by Jerry Begly

                             

Promises

The chair-of-today which seats me,
Body and soul,

Is a cushion of promises,

Background pledges

That make this day possible and

Watch over me with

All the stability of a mountain pass,

All the reliability of a golden sunrise,

All the bets of heaven laid on

A Carpenter from a dusty village 
   in Galilee.

The gentle breeze 
Teasing in my window promises

That with life’s changes

A Mysterious Force will be

Propelling them on a mission,

My part will be to ride the wind.

A Distant Song

Photograph by Katherine Micks

In memory of Mike Persson. A dear friend, servant of the Lord, lover of music, choralist, and champion of All That Is Good, True, and Noble in Preparation for Life in the Courts of Heaven. 

A Distant Song

Sing for me dear friends!

Sing me to heaven on wings

Of songs soft and low

That still all fears and

Whisper in hushed, holy

Strains about the wonders

Just around the bend.

Present with the Lord

With loving thoughts of my dear friend, Mike Persson, who has left this world today to be with his Lord and Savior. A remarkable man, and a dear friend, he will be missed greatly by all who knew and loved him.

Vigil of Angels

The Annunciation Angel by TITIAN

Always ready to do His bidding

The mighty, patient one stands alongside,

With watchful, tender, gleaming eye

Knowing how to trust and judging

Not by labored breath or pain etched face

But keenly watching the soul prepare for the journey;

Growing steadily more beautiful in grace,

Fingers of earth loosening their grasp

And the hands of the trusting spirit lifting toward

God and His Remarkable Kingdom.

Do You Hear It?

Gentle morning dove

Thank you, Lord 

   for the gift of sound…

the early call of a lone bird 

   at the break of dawn,

the swelling chorus of morning 

   in the tree tops,

I Don't Want Nails in My Hands

The light of the nightstand lamp bathed her little face in a golden, day’s end glow. She had picked out a library book and brought it to bed with her, asking that I read the page with a picture of Jesus on the cross. 

Before I even looked at the text to see how appropriate it was for a five year old, she looked at me with big eyes, waving her little hand close to my face and pleaded, “Grandma, I don’t want nails in my hands!”