Glimpses

Glimpse, photo by Paul Englefield, from Flickr, Creative Commons

This National Poetry Month I will be posting a sequence of poems, written last year and this year, for others in a series called Giving Poetry. In this series, people request a poem using a title, specific words, concepts, or ideas. After writing the poem, I send it to them, posting it on Facebook and on my blog. This is Giving Poetry.

Title: Glimpses

Words: waiting, opportunity, choices

Glimpses: for Martha

We catch glimpses
of our heart’s desires,
when our souls take breath,
belabored and tired,
in aches of sorrow,
while waiting on tomorrow,
as opportunity gives way
in the choices displayed.

© February 5, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

Eavesdropping on the Divine

Resilience, photo by Chris Campbell, from Flickr, Creative Commons

This National Poetry Month I will be posting a sequence of poems, written last year and this year, for others in a series called Giving Poetry. In this series, people request a poem using a title, specific words, concepts, or ideas. After writing the poem, I send it to them, posting it on Facebook and on my blog. This is Giving Poetry.

Resilience. An overheard conversation. Soil.

Eavesdropping on the Divine: for Ed

We listened,
though we never meant to pry.
We wanted answers.
We needed to know why.

We heard, “The same soil that sprouted
the grass that withers,
and the flower that fades,
nurtures the Word—resilience.”


© February 5, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

To the Ages

Through the years, photo by Dan Cook Archived, from Flickr, Creative Commons

This National Poetry Month I will be posting a sequence of poems, written last year and this year, for others in a series called Giving Poetry. In this series, people request a poem using a title, specific words, concepts, or ideas. After writing the poem, I send it to them, posting it on Facebook and on my blog. This is Giving Poetry.

Strength. Stress in older years.

To the Ages: for Vicki

The years and the stress
come with strength and resolve
bringing in wisdom untold
and joy as the story unfolds.

© February 5, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

Determination

Take Courage, photo by S Khan, from Flickr, Creative Commons

This National Poetry Month I will be posting a sequence of poems, written last year and this year, for others in a series called Giving Poetry. In this series, people request a poem using a title, specific words, concepts, or ideas. After writing the poem, I send it to them, posting it on Facebook and on my blog. This is Giving Poetry.

Determination

Determination: for Darlene

Determined,
she faces the night,
with grit and grace,
to face the fright.


© February 5, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

Hope

Hope, photo by Gedalya, AKA David Gott, from Flickr, Creative Commons

This National Poetry Month I will be posting a sequence of poems, written last year and this year, for others in a series called Giving Poetry. In this series, people request a poem using a title, specific words, concepts, or ideas. After writing the poem, I send it to them, posting it on Facebook and on my blog. This is Giving Poetry.

A wing, a prayer, and hope.

Hope: for Linda

Hope sprouts wings,
she flies and she sings,
a prayer for tomorrow
the removal of all sorrow.

“Hope springs eternal,”
so the saying goes.
It’s because hope knows.

© February 5, 2015, Robbie Pruitt

Mullions

Window Through the View Finder, 
photo from Flickr, by BotheredByBees

Mullions

Darkness falls nightly.

At dawn, as morning breaks,

The sunrise is framed

Light shines brightly

Through the window

Eliminating darkness’ shadow

Casting crosses in silhouette

Allowing hope’s expression to show

In shifting patterns of morning’s glow


© August 15, 2014, Robbie Pruitt

Hope

Hope, photo by mrsdkrebs from Flickr

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” –Hebrews 11:1

Hope

Hope

She hangs on

Until tomorrow

Hope is assured

Of time borrowed

Hope

Is exacted in faith

That tomorrow

Will relinquish

Its sorrow

© February 11, 2013, Robbie Pruitt

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  –Hebrews 11:6 

Beggars at a Funeral

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images, © March 6, 2012

Beggars at a Funeral

Beggars at a funeral
When all anyone has is grief
And all hands are stretched out
Looking for a little relief


© June 2012, Robbie Pruitt


“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Recently my wife and I and some friends of ours attended a funeral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It was a cultural experience that I will not soon forget.

At this funeral people were grieving and mourning the death of a young woman who had left behind two beautiful children.

As funeral attendees grieved, several young children from off the streets, close to the age of the children left behind by the deceased, worked the crowd begging for money from the funeral attendees.

This would never happen in the states, I thought to myself. I have been to plenty of funerals in my life and never before have I witnessed this.

Many of us were disturbed and angered by the beggars and tried to shoo them off. How inappropriate. This was not the time or the place, we thought.

Then it occurred to me in the midst of this grief, sorrow, and mourning that many of the funeral attendees also had outstretched hands and open hearts as they cried out to God and embraced one another.

All of us there were begging. We were at a loss and begging for answers and solace thinking about these young children who would be without their mother for the rest of their lives.

This quote from D. T. Niles about sharing the good news of Jesus came to mind, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread."

At this funeral we were all beggars seeking Bread. As we grieved, we had outstretched hands looking for a little consolation.