Writing a poem a day for April, National Poetry Month

"Only Empty Arms"
By: Maria L. Coble

Help me see with Your eyes
Beyond the petty slights,
The times when no one cared.
You did.
You saw.
Your face did not turn from mine,
You stood with open arms.

If I surrender my dreams
Drop my hurt to the sand,
Only then
Can I grasp Your will,
Only with empty arms
Can I cling to my Rock.
Only fully emptied
Can I be truly filled.

Help me see:
When I focus on Your heart
When Your desires become mine,
My worries about
My life,
My details,
My dreams,
Fade into peace
In the light of Your hope
Shining through my life.

When most of all,
I wish to be Yours,
Suddenly,
This senseless life
Matters not.
As I hold Your hand and follow
One step at a time.

*All Rights Reserved*

NOTE: So easy to say, so hard to do.

Writing a poem a day for April, National Poetry Month.

"Splash!"
By: Maria L. Coble

Don't break this empty canvas!
You can still create a masterpiece
Before this canvas cracks with age
And the wood begins to buckle,
At least give a try
Before you toss it aside.

Harmonize my silhouette
Within a breathing landscape,
Then splash the music of my life,
Tiptoeing through your fingertips,
While the bold strokes of crescendo
Swoop boldly across the sky.

Smear the colors
Of my imagination
Let them awaken brush strokes
Adding unexpected wildness,
A living dimension,
To just another painting
On the wall.

*All Rights Reserved*

Writing a poem a day for April

Please note: events happened first, this wasn't staged just so I could write about it. But after they happened, I decided it would make a good poem and was glad I took the photo.

"Chain Me with Flowers"
Inspired by My Daughter, Sara
By: Maria L. Coble

I fed you today
Five times at least.
More than once
Prepping what you wanted
Not what I desired,
Getting it just perfect
So you love it

I washed what you are wearing
Hung it up so it wouldn't wrinkle
Sewed that button back on.
Found a matching shirt
(or close enough)
Made sure you liked the outfit
before you put it on.

I rinsed your hair in the bath.
Cut your fingernails
And toenails,
Helped you brush your teeth.
Found your shoes
And matching socks

I swept the floor beneath your feet
Scrubbed it too
Washed the dishes you used.
Changed the sheets on your bed.

But the one thing that gave you delight,
The thing that truly mattered today.
"Mommy, I always wanted a flower chain!"
You exclaim in delight
Lifting high the clovers I knotted
And I marvel at what makes you smile
And weep inside for the chain that will fade tomorrow

How I wish I could bottle that joy
To keep you this happy
And perhaps spend less time
on laundry and fingernails
And more time making flower chains
Chains of memories
You won't forget
That I can hold within my heart
When you too, are too practical
To care about clover chains
And flower blossoms
When you too think that clean clothes
And clean floors matter more

Then I will wish for my flower chains
To tie around,
To keep the little girl
Who used to fit upon my lap

I will wish I said,
"Yes" more
Instead of "Maybe tomorrow"
For then it will be you
Who is too busy for me

I will truly know
How much I wish
We could just make one more
Flower chain,
Have just one more time
When simple lawn flowers
Give you absolute delight,
One more time
When you grab me close
And I can lift you in the air
And hear your shrieks of delight,
One more time,
When you're young enough to laugh
With every single piece of your heart.

*All Rights Reserved*

"Abraham"
By: Maria L. Coble

You didn't hold back your son,
Your only child
Wanted for decades,
Love of your life

You trusted God
With the most precious
Even trusting a son's death
Would lead to God's glory.
Faith in God above all.

So,
God protected
That which was already His,
Your heart reading His heart
Truly nothing held back.

What do I hold back from God?
What do I fiercely circle,
Guarding as mine,
Rather than cuddling
Deep into God's heart?

"Fountain"
By: Maria Coble

Your valuable words
Take me on trips
Without them,
I am ripped,
Wandering slowly
In a haze,
As I fled.

But I fell
Naturally searching
The time that they stole,
Seeking a haven to cry.

Where are the gates
With the people who care?
I have heard they live here
Yet I cannot find.

You told me to laugh
Like I'm wanted.

Yet old,
I am born,
I have lived,
Seeking to quench
This undying fountain inside.

*All Rights Reserved*

"Beyond the Veil"
By: Maria L. Coble

A dream now emerges:
A misty gate closing over the sky.
Behold,
A path lines pass the days of poetry,
The blood of Hands together,
Cleansing beneath the sticky stream.

Life grows within.
I wish long leaps were mine,
Stepping past death's old delays.

Join the wise!
My portion shall be
Love's caress came
To me.

*All Rights Reserved*

"Dusk"
By: Maria L. Coble

Evening falls
Drawing a veil
Gently down across the sky

Inspiring music of the birds
They softly chirp
A lullaby

A night to sleep,
Refresh,
Tomorrow-- another try.

*All Rights Reserved*

"His Hands"
By: Maria L. Coble

Simple hands
Roughened
By hard work and travel.
Hands that gently touched,
Healing hands.

Never used to kill
To hurt
To slap
Only to mend,
To make,
To fashion wood,
To soothe hearts
To replace ears
To wash feet.

Hands
That made eyes see.
Shattered,
Torn
Gashed deep
For me.

Forever changed
Bruised,
Scarred,
Never again perfect
Forever changed:
The tearing pain of love

Someday,
Their rough, scarred skin
Upon my face.
Always,
Forgiveness offered
In these hands
For me.

Here sit I
In awe:
His majesty.

*All Rights Reserved*

"Deluge of Mercy"
By: Maria L. Coble

Rain coats,
Wet shoes
Still wet after last night

County is coming
(They claim)
The ditch to clean
So our whole yard
Might not float away.

The rain pours on.

The kids jump and climb,
Restlessly confined
To our small house

An endless deluge,
Nearly a flood
Is God ever tempted
To wipe out the earth again?

Looking at our world,
Our lives,
My heart,
Sometimes,
I wouldn't blame Him.

So I'm thankful for mercy,
I'll praise Him in the rain.

*All Rights Reserved*

"Cards"
By: Maria Coble

Sometimes the house of cards
Falls back into my hands.
"It could of worked,
It might have worked"
But no one understands.

And yet my life is such
I cannot
Sit around and cry
But trust the Dealer of the cards
He alone knows why

I must trust
This is His plan
Not grab cards to my chest.
But surrender to His waiting hand,
And trust that He knows best

Sit patient as He shuffles
And then begin again
"Forgetting that which lies behind"
Believing most in Him

Believing,
If the winds will blow
Cards scattering to the breeze
I'll hear His voice within my heart
Gathering cards on my knees.

*All Rights Reserved*

If you are someone who prays, please remember my cousin's wife, Jana. Jana is about 28. She had a kidney transplant a couple years ago. They really wanted a child and she miscarried her first two kids. Now, she is 22 weeks pregnant but her blood platlet levels are dropping (should be around 150,000, hers are 11,000) If they go any lower, her brain may start bleeding etc.

The baby is only 22 wks along, a little girl. Pray that somehow, she and the baby will be ok.

Thanks.

below my son, caroling. He will be 8 in April



below my two daughters. Lisa Beth turned 2 Thanksgiving day, Sara will be 5 on Jan 26th



below my 2 year old has her daddy's brown eyes



below my almost 5 year old in the Christmas sweater handed down from her cousin

My friend's 2 year old has a brain tumor. I can't believe it. She's always been healthy. I've known her mom 5 years now.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I'm thankful to know you, those who are reading this.

Also, today is my youngest's second birthday. Happy Birthday, Lisa Beth!

She is my little miracle born 1 day before the 1 year anniversary of my miscarriage.

A lot of people remark on how happy she seems, her "default mood" is cheerful, usually. She's talking a lot now and she is already one to usually call me "Mom" instead of "Mommy." She climbs more than my other two ever did, my biggest challange these days is staying at least a step ahead of Lisa Beth. Always experiementing, always curious and 2 years old or not, like I've told her older siblings, they will always be "my babies."

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for my family:)

We're about to have our 11th Wedding Anniversary so my mother-in-law asked me to scan some of our wedding photos.

Here's us, almost 11 years ago. Now you know what I looked like at 19 years old.



The scanning made Ron look more yellowish than he really is.

I posted too soon. She threw up at midnight then was up until 3. When I thought she was down around 1, it didn't last long.

I'm glad she was able to finally rest, I hope the fever went away. I gave her Tylenol but it's the kind of quandary: do you let her sleep or go check how she is?

Right now, letting her sleep.

My son came down with the croup last Thursday evening (Oct 9th.) The dr. said he was well enough to go back to school Monday but it was just in time for my daughter to come down with it this evening. We got the Rx for her and at midnight, my toddler wakes up, screaming and vomiting in her bed because she too has it (and a fever of 101.2)

Everyone is back to sleep now. Sounds like my daughter will miss at least a couple days of preschool. My toddler is the most pitiful though.

We'd been blessed to be quite well for the last few months but the weather has gotten cooler...

I took my 3 kids to the Pumpkin Farm today.

Here's my daughter and I on the hayride.

I took over 200 photos so will post more sometime.

Man, most muscles I have ache. What a day! I hope my daughter's friend enjoyed all the swinging the girls around. I know I loved when adults would do that when I was kid. I knew it would hurt later but man, I didn't remember how much.

Combined with many other activities today...man. Reminds you how many muscles you have!

I just had to have my 4 1/2 year old enjoy having her company though. She looked forward to this all week.

Here's mine and her little friend and the other two she saw today at her friend's birthday. My daughter is in a pink care bear shirt.



I just hope I can sleep.

As you know, Robert (My husband's brother) had a MRI on his lung Monday. He talked with the doctor this morning. There is a mass in his lung. It is at least partly fat contained. A biopsy is scheduled for next Wednesday. My mother-in-law just learned Robert has been spitting up blood for months now, just was in denial I guess.

I guess he'll be telling his 4 children soon. Please pray for Robert, his wife, the 4 children, Ron (Robert is Ron's youngest sibling) and for my mother-in-law. She watched her husband slowly die of cancer in 2005 and Robert is her youngest child. She is a Christian but is very sad today.

Please pray the biopsy goes well next week. That if it is God's will, it could somehow be a benign mass?

We're sad today.