I went to accept this invitation, got a message saying I couldn't join, and the next thing I know, I'm added to it! Cool!
I want to share a ballad I recently wrote, hope y'all enjoy--BTW Ballads, by definition, are long narrative poems with a transformational turning point...
Miracle on a Beach
He stands on the Florida
shore
His heart is full with pain
He can not take it any more
Cries out in rage and shame
Down on his knees, he kneels in sand
Buries his face and cries
He hides himself behind his hands
Believing all the lies
Told him by the thousand voices
That supersede his own
A life of despairing choices
Is all he’s ever known
Blue-black the sky and bruised with clouds
Adrift on wings of wind
Blue-black his mind, ablaze and loud
It taunts him with his sins
“I’m one of nature’s
sad mistakes,
I have no right to live,
I just do not have what it takes
I’ve nothing good to give”
Deep green ocean, white sparkling sands
He prays that God can hear
Head bowed in pain, he clasps his hands
Contrite, unsure, sincere
“I hate the way I’m
living now!
Release me from my past
I did not choose it any how
Please set me free at last?”
A life beyond imagining
A vivid hell each day
Is what he lived and how he died
A little every day
He begs of God a miracle,
“Bless me where I’m kneeling
Relieve me from despicable
Thoughts and awful feelings?
“Please lead me to my sanity –
Please will You so bless me?
I do not ask in vanity –
Please will You divest me
“Of this burden that I carry
These blades of malcontent --
Constant evil thrust and parry
Of swords of self-contempt?”
***
A sudden, blissful feeling came
It brushed his soul with grace
He heard the angels sing his name
Outside of time and space
Sweet peace flowed in, sweet peace flowed out
Bathing him in healing
His hair rose up across his skin
A holy, sacred feeling
His anguish fled, oh yes, it fled
Unable to remain
Chaotic static filled with dread
Fell silent in his brain
“Listen to me,” he
heard God say
“Follow your heart with trust
It will never lead you astray”
He briefly felt non-plussed
God’s voice kept whispering clearly
“Listen to Me, to ME –
I love you so very dearly
I’ll never part from thee!”
The clouds drew back, sky lightened up
Rainbows grew about him
His despair-filled heart brightened up
Grace arose throughout him
This moment of eternity
Engulfed him, inside out
As feelings of infinity
Erased his life-long doubt
“Oh, thank you, God! I thank you, God
For setting me so free
I feel Your love, I’m humble, awed
And grateful so to Thee!”
“Rise up, My sweet and faithful son –
Dear boy, you’re in My Heart
I promise you, My Will IS done –
Your life’s about start
Being filled with joy and laughter,
Friends and family, too –
Right here and now, and hereafter,
My Light will shine through you
You’ll help the lost and lonely ones
Find peace inside their minds --
They’ll learn they’re not the only ones
Who stumble, deaf and blind
Throughout their days in stagnant haze
Of hopeless, helpless rage
My Instrument, you’ll show them ways
To start a new life page
In language they have always heard,
Visible to the blind
You’ll spread My Grace in living words,
My Love will heal
mankind”
Grateful tears rose from deep inside
Baptized him standing there
They fell and rolled to meet the tide
That cleansed him of despair
Across his soul it swept
Great tears of joy he wept
God’s promises are kept
He’s now awake, who slept
(c) 2006