"The New Liberty"

Come to Me, you tired, you poor,
You heavy-laden yearning to be free;
My yoke upon you, you will learn from Me.
Come here, My lifeless,
Little fatherless to Me!
I gave My life upon the wooden cross.

No need to clean yourself before you come,
With worthless deeds that could never truly save;
Here at My feet, your trust is all I need,
A humbled heart with naught but grain of faith,
You need not understand the great Myst’ries
To be embraced by My father and Me.
Just come, lay your burden down and be free!
I’ll give you rest, a Sabbath for your souls,
It has already been paid for with My love,
Given to you and poured out: My blood.

Come to Me, you tired, you poor,
You heavy-laden yearning to be free;
My yoke upon you, you will learn from Me.
Come here, My lifeless,
Little fatherless to Me!
I gave My life upon the wooden cross.

---

adapted from “The New Colossus”
Emma Lazarus, 1883
Public domain

"The Bigger They Are"

Here I sit, all bloody and bruised,
Evidence caked on my favorite shoes;
I tried to fight the street
But ended in defeat,
It’s gravity and mud that I accuse

"Above All Others"

It is so much more than a gift—
It is granted authority,
A burden of great power:
A grave responsibility.

It’s much more than ending a prayer,
An oft-spoken punctuation;
More than a formula…or
Pers’nal identification.

An extension of His presence,
An ambass’dor: “Excellency.”
You are adopted, a child
Now trusted with King’s signet, see?

He lived—perfectly innocent—
And then He bled and died for us;
He set all that aside and
Arose, stood back up for us.

Now, “I am standing in for Him”
—It’s a very bold thing to claim,
But this is what He promised
When He bequeathed His holy name.

"Dog Days Of Summer"

We started with two,
then adopted one more.
A friend needed help,
so we’re now up to four

Our youngest still bites,
the others warn with growl;
Can’t leave them alone—
Makes me just want to howl!

They’ve special diets,
but eat each other’s food;
Hope they won’t vomit—
Please have mercy, fur dudes!

Yellow got nervous
and emptied his bowel—
Cleaned up his pee too
with a fresh washèd towel

“I’ll dig thro’ the trash
while they’re out with that one,”
said and did th’ Brown—
We’ve had it, we’re done!

Lock them in kennels
for just a short time,
‘til butterfly farts,
and they all start to whine

“I know! Let’s all play”—
Should we inside or out?
Weather makes us sweat,
so we opt for the couch

They won’t share the toys,
and they step on my toes;
“OWW!” yell I. They pause,
sixteen legs all 'kimbo

We’ve suffered enough,
let’s just all go to bed;
We’ll rest and then wake
and do this over again

"I Just Washed My Hands"

I just washed my hands—
It doesn’t matter the reason;
I sang about a twinkling star
To ensure I had done my best

I wave at the "eye"
That triggers mechanical dance,
Then wait a whole, entire season
While the paper rolls way too far

End now drags the floor:
It’s gross, and I refuse to dry;
I step across and wave again—
Will it also try such treason?

It whirs—just a tick,
Produces one that’s way too short—
Water’d blot if I could e’en try;
I give up and just use my pants

Putting this to rest,
But I’ve a few more thoughts on it:
I have one more stanza before—
Grr… there is still damp on my thighs!

A one-inch bookmark,
And more sheets for my king-size bed;
I do not need or want these things:
All I want’s a towel…or four.