Talent Unburied

Talking about forgiveness in church tonight reminded me of this poem. It's one of my first ones. I was experimenting with styles at the time. I'm not really sure what this one though. Anyway, enjoy! O what a great thing forgiveness is It floods our souls, cleansing every corner Reaching down to the most unworthy To the sinner it stretches forth Man cannot begin to conquer To explain, to tell us how The greatest thing called forgiveness Causes every knee to bow The feeling that engulfs the heart Can never be explained Let all the men forever say Let forgiveness reign in hearts today 4/2/09

Sometimes I write a little something just for personal encouragement. Just something I jot down on the sidebar of my notebook every now and then. This was one of those. It's always too late to give in It's always too soon to give up It's never OK to stay down You never have rights to quit When you're depressed become determined When you're stressed don't throw your hands up Use a smile to replace that frown And never say forget it

one step forward, seven steps back. you've got momentum, it's stability you lack. today you stand, tomorrow you fall. no one comes when for help you call. the sun shines while the rain pours. victory hides while failure kicks in doors. the blowing wind knocks you down. In ocean waves you're destined to drown. days, even weeks, have passed. surely you've reached the goal at last. you look about thinking you've improved. but scenery shows only three steps you've moved. you sit to accept your defeat when a small note flutters to your feet. its says, “before utter failure you profess. know that small progress is still progress!”

Leave your mark, not just a signature but an imprint Something future generations can grasp Make it better than a footprint or fingerprint Left in the sand or on a window of the past Be a role model, a pattern for them to follow A leader with valor, whose shoes are hard to fill Challenge them with truth, a hope for tomorrow Be sure that within them courage you instill Not with your words, recorded on paper For ink often fades away, too soon forgotten But an existence of esteem and godly favor Is history that will last in words spoken A permanent impression in the cement Of hearts still soft and pliable Forming their lives like metal when bent Is shaped into pillars so dependable May your legacy be a shout and not a whisper Setting the world ablaze with a passion Like a fire that will burn and blister An active volcano in full eruption One action louder than any spoken word Many lessons not taught but caught Quick is forgotten the said, but not what occurred

This piece is very special to me. I believe this is my post powerful work. It is surely my longest so far (although I do have a longer one in progress). I was definitely  very in tune with the emotion of this poem. It took about about 3 - 4 hours over the span of three days to write it. I really felt this way my spirit crying out. I was the character in this poem. As I said in a previous post, I began writing poetry in 2009. I wrote several poems that year until it seemed I got a bad case of writers block. I couldn't write anything that I felt was worthwhile. I was struggling with God and His place in my life. Finally, in 2011, when it seemed I was scraping the bottom, He allowed me to channel my emotions into the form of a poem that defined the battle I was fighting. Part 2 of this poem came later the next year. I had found the answers in myself to questions at the end but all my readers requested that I write a conclusion. So I added part 2, a very short, brief ending to the bat