Tag Archives: faith

EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

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How easily done depends

on the sinner and sin done that day.

No “ I lay me down to sleep”

before this Catholic child closed her eyes.

An examination of conscience, 

a deep and complete review 

of my sins committed that day, as I prayed

in true contrition for my sins; and a promise

to make restitution to all I had harmed

in my self-centered, humanly-corrupted way.

Only then, could forgiveness be petitioned

and God swayed. Sister told me so in class.

Father told me so in the dark confessional.

I await an examination of conscience by all

who voted for MAGA  entranced and enthralled

by promises of heavenly and earthly reward

for allowing hate to invade and invoke

the souls of nation recently made awoke

by African-Americans and women who showed

they were equally great to any American.

Make America Great Again only meant

make America white again.

And my church paved the way.

Her misogyny always ready to deprive

women of any control over 

the length of their skirts,

the choice to love or escape 

abuse in any man’s embrace,

manage their reproductive health,

choose or excuse another’s hate.

Abortion became the rallying cry

to bring sinners off their knees and to the polls

to vote for the liars who played priests like fools.

There is no place for judgment or blame.

Sinners all, we play the same game.

There is a need for an examination of conscience,

for restitution to a nation’s sacred tenets defamed

by such reckless, sincere but sinful moves.

Now, priests and pastors see the error of their ways

as they accompany immigrants to hearings

to protect them from MAGA misrule?

The MAGA the churches helped elect

is not a surprise. And, it remains a sin to be

examined deeply, and completely reviewed.

I await the results of such a self-examination.

I await the restitution to be completed.

I await the apology for distorting Christian theology.

I await the chance to forgive, wholeheartedly.

I know my church is only human.

If only it could remember that truth.

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HEAVEN ON EARTH

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I have no knowledge of Heaven.

I have never been there,

except in dreams.

One thing I do know.

It must be a place where I

am surrounded by goodness,

fairness, compassion

and loving kindness

all of the time.

Heaven is the type of space

where hate has no place.

The sign in my yard

declares it to be so.

But, as we all know,

My selfish concerns sometimes show.

Creating a heaven on earth

may be an impossibility

because of my fragility

and lack of humility.

My human state has a dearth

of courageous purity.

Yet, still, I shall try to create

Heaven on Earth 

as a constant state.

The lack of goodness surrounds me

all too often these cruelty-laden days.

Kindness is the only way to delay

the triumph of evil over good.

I ask all those in my neighborhood

to join my effort, feeble though it be.

Any small kindness is stronger than cruelty.

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THE AMERICAN SIN

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The sins of the nation 

are visited upon its citizens.

We shouted long and hard

until bullets dropped

on Jacksonville and Kent State.

And that war stopped amid shouts

“Make war no more !”.

War must be stopped at every border

to end the slaughter

of its sons and daughters.

“Make war no more”

the children shouted

barefoot and flowered

and fought the greed

in second-hand shops 

and public gardens

and programs to up-lift those trampled

by endless war which still continued

because it is never enough

to halt the greed of those in power

hidden under rocks with prejudice

and hate who think themselves great

and lie to themselves, and us, hour by hour

smiling through games they create

to keep us all entertained

chasing dreams of American idols

with sports and drink 

gambling on undermined dreams

that can only come true 

for a celebrated few

who are told to take 

whatever they need

at our expense,  

and watch our liberties lost

while sitting on their fence.

We have become country-less

within our own  borders

as war is made, now against us.

And, the world goes on

as our nation dies 

snuffed out under a blanket

of base-less lies.

Greed destroys and religion belies

so long as it gains larger roofs,

and takes over and strafes

those sitting in its pews

praying with true intent

“make war no more”. 

A nation once thought heaven-sent

has lost its religion to endless greed

and our only lament 

is the cost of goods?

“It’s the economy, stupid” 

no longer applies, if it ever did

except to pretend their actions

are for our own good.

It has not and never has been.

Great Pirates and Robber Barons 

never recognize borders

when committing their sins.

Native Americans and those we enslaved

are  always attacked for

showing us the truth.

Gaining wealth is not the sin.

Greed is our greatest sin.

We must stop it on the borders

without and within.

Greed shored up with power

is the story of the hour.

Even those afraid to wake

are now learning

what the woke always

knew to be true.

The greedy care only

about themselves, 

not me, and not you.

We end where we begin,

mired by our own sin.

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LAST BREATH

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What is the period of mourning

when a nation dies before our eyes?

Not in sudden cardiac arrest,

not like a slow cancer.

nor a natural aging

of its body politic.

But, like a chronic illness

which has worsened over time,

sometimes in remission

allowing hope to remain alive.

But, when death’s grip pries

the life from every cell

which protected a nation from demise

and its heartbeats accelerate

at a far too barbaric rate,

what then? How can hope survive

when our national freedom dies?

The violence, the bombs, the rubbled ruin 

comes after the next election, I fear. 

The election may save us from loss

of freedom, but at a cost.

Like Ukraine, we can take a nation back

by electing constitutional, loyal leaders

and set our enemies off to the side.

Like Ukraine, our enemies will regroup

and ferociously and physically attack

what they could not seize by stealth.

They will never let go of power and wealth

which we allowed them to take during this

DOGE-dealing, Heritage Foundation steal.

Courts may save us for a time.

But, be prepared.Everything is on the line.

And the mourning is ever-ceasing

for those who see the fate

of a nation which for too-long

embraced its power and its wealth, 

and allowed itself to hate.

Slavery was our original sin and set the stage

for all the other hate and division

that has led to this time of fear and outrage.

How long is the mourning period for such a loss?

It has been my entire life; yet, my hope has endured.

But, my body senses death at my nation’s door.

And, I fear I simply cannot take it anymore.

What is the end to this period of mourning?

Every cell in the body politic is warning

that this nation, our beloved nation

may be close to its last breath.

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LIGHT UP

Photo by William Melvin, April 2025

I am made of stardust

lit by sunlight.

Like lilies of the field

I dig deep into earth

with my toes.

Like birds of the air

I soar on currents stirred

when heat meets cold.

I seek. I soar. I laugh out loud.

I raise my face to the sun.

I dance in moonlight.

My spirit takes flight.

I grow strong.

My beauty abounds.

As earth, my earth

turns round and round.

Time has no meaning

I have found

except to tether my hopes

that change comes around

when most desired,

bright with sounds

of laughter, and courage

unleashed and unbound.

Rejoice in the day,

the month and the year

but stay in the moment.

Have no fear.

Photo by William Melvin, April 2025

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D.E.I. and I

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I have stayed away from words, 

breathless, in my grief,

for too long.

Diversity is my faith.

Equity is my hope.

Inclusion is my love.

Each breath I take is a promise

that things will be better someday.

And, they have been for a time,

in places expanding across space,

across multiple divides.

In a school, then university.

In a church, then a community.

Across a state, on national forums

Each breath inhaled the hate,

expanded and expelled love in its place.

Breaths took down barriers, created programs,

enacted policies, changed syllabi,

created courses and news ways of seeing,

new avenues of progress, new ways of being.

The backlash always came,

in drips and drabs, all the same.

But this! This! It is a fearsome game.

It is not D.E.I. which they decry.

They want to see us hold our breath

and die.

They SNAP food from the mouths of babes.

They ask the aged and disabled to work their own miracles,

heal themselves without medic-aid,

waste away, and die.

They place tariffs on those who stood at our side.

Making us all pay more for less to save their pride.

They fill their pockets with our labor,

changing coins to crypto for their greedy favor.

They extort heroes who fight to protect freedom world-wide

so that dictators and killers can be by their side.

They miss the days when the few controlled the many.

They refuse to compete, or share even one penny;

pennies earned from our labor, not theirs.

Lately, it seems we have not got a prayer.

We seldom did. But, do not despair.

What we did have was the freedom to try.

Now, our hard-won freedom to speak and act is denied.

We are being denied the right to even try.

We still have one another, and our God-given rights.

We will never allow those to be shoved aside.

And at the end of this life we shall hold hands and sigh

We tried. 

We tried.

We tried!

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KEEP REACHING

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Best doors open deep,

without handles, but only

open from within. 

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MUMPISM

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Like lichen I cling

to foundational rocks, loose.

Democracy lost.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025

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Worn and weary I 

run away from words hidden 

in the dark of night.

Photo by Nicole Avagliano on Pexels.com

Pained and poured out I

slowly ascend the mountain

reaching toward the light.

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Strained and so sore I

peruse the new horizon

coming into sight.

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Battered but brave I

reach into my open heart.

Love overcomes fright.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024

Hope is the deep breath needed to sing Carols

heralding Jesus’ birth.

Hope is the breath first breathed into all living things.

Hope is the breath that softens

the hard contours of defended hearts.

Hope is the breath that soothes

the rough edges of fearful minds.

Hope is the breath that animates

the graceful move to gift our very selves.

Hope is the breath that lifts

the blindness of hateful eyes heavenward.

Hope is the breath that challenges

the world to dream of peaceful, new beginnings.

Hope is the breath that stores

the strength needed for moments when courage is needed.

Hope is the breath that brightens and enlightens

the darkness within each breathless soul.

Christmas is a time for deep breaths filled

with hope to face another moment, day, month, year.

Keep breathing is all that is required to fill

the world with Hope.

Each breath keeps Hope alive.

Merry Christmas with every breath taken

deeper in every way, every day

during the Jubilee Year of Hope.

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