Holding Fast

Holding Fast
7/6/11
by Teri VanLieshout

I hold fast to    love, life, beauty
  I want to fold it up
Write it down
  Carry it with me

Like an old photograph
  with shining memories
  Of happy times
Stuffed in the corner of my
   mirror or wallet or  purse

I breathe you in
  and breathe you out
Memory and love
I feel you burst open
  inside

I cannot hold you
  you will not sit still
You run out and over
  spilling forward

 You are rich and warm
   Sunset explosion
 Here and gone
 
I marinade in
 your fragrance
   your touch
     your joy

And I remember
 and hold fast
   and smile.

Fragile Ties

Fragile Ties

By Teri VanL.ieshout

2/14/2005

For my husband, Josh, with love

Spider’s web
And silken thread
Soft and fragile
They can break with a whisper
Or in woven strength
Hold like girders of steel.

Our hearts are bound
In the magical thread
Of trust, hope, honesty
Patience, forgiveness,
Laughter, resilient warmth
And compassion.

Love

In the cocoon of marriage
Is our shelter
Our strength
And our foremost labor.

To tend to these fragile ties
That can break in isolation
Or, in union,
Bear the insurmountable weight of the world,

To tend to these fragile ties
Is a foundation
For a rich life
Shared with each other,
Our children,
And our children’s children,

Building a legacy
That can span generations
Made first of intimate love,
Blossoming into creative service
That can go far beyond
Our individual lives
To benefit the world.

I give you my affection
My respect, my support,

My love

The best of me

To share in this tender union
That is our life together
And is a reflection of the Eternal
So gently placed
In the silken framework
Of our hearts.

I wrote this for Josh a few years ago. And back then, I didn’t know how much we’d face together even in 5 short years. As we grow in our marriage, I can say the love grows stronger and the respect grows deeper. My husband loves well, even when I’m far from perfect. And I hope I reflect that back to him, too. Truly blessed. I love you so much, Josh. You’re the best!!

Fecund Offering (a revision)

By Teri VanLieshout
original 3/5/97, this version 1/25/11

Love is not
       like magnified

It is showing appreciation
     for life
       through commitment
    to others
           and shared vision of what is good

Experiencing joy
   comes with
     sharing
         life’s good work
                                        together

Hard work
   strengthens calm

Peace comes
  in the wake
     of a steady push forward
 
Comfort
   is satisfaction
     in knowing you’ve done your best

Souls are kept
   by passing love on,
     sharing in the triumphs and pitfalls of life

      fecund offering

Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander

"Praise Song for the Day"
by Elizabeth Alexander 
Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other's
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

 All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

 Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

 Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

 A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

 We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

 We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what's on the other side.

 I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

 Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

 picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

 Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

 Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

 Love beyond marital, filial, national,
Love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

 In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.