Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
Psalms 6:2
Trees mourn
as her summer
children depart.
Sparrows huddle
to plot
winter vacation.
Daisies faint,
insensible to
cunning frost.
Emerald grass,
sequined with
red, yellow, and orange,
welcome cooling nights.
Shadows surrender
to autumn memory,
future and
long past.
Michael James Fitzgerald
Hanging
upside down
in a ditch
of my own digging,
I’ve make myself a
temporary atheist,
clinging to
the very thing
I don’t want,
searching for
an unfailing Light
that’s easily
within reach.
Michael James Fitzgerald
Forgotten,
displaced,
misguided,
disgraced.
Overlooked,
spurned,
rejected,
unyearned.
Broken,
dismayed,
forsaken,
betrayed.
Patiently he awaits
a salvation
he cannot grant
himself.
Michael James Fitzgerald
You’re climbing up a mountain,
looking high and low,
driving down the highway,
learning as you go.
Looking for rainbows,
wrestling self-esteem,
searching for your electric,
unquenchable dream.
That dream’s gonna take
all the love you can give
every day of your life
for as long as you live.
So keep climbing up your mountain,
dreaming as you go,
burning down your fears,
taking it nice and slow.
Climb up your rainbow,
ford that wide stream,
keep searching til you find
your beautiful, inevictable dream.
Michael James Fitzgerald
(with a lot of help from Rogers and Hammerstein)
Unseen
except by the All Seeing.
Unnoticed
except by angels.
Unheard
except by God.
Lonely
but not alone.
Empty
but full of
possibility.
Forgotten
but a name
written in gold.
Michael James Fitzgerald
With hand over heart
I pledge allegiance
to the honest spirit
who saved me
from myself.
And to the truth
for which she stands,
one warrior
under God,
undefeatable,
with mercy
and kindness
for all.
Michael James Fitzgerald
How can you feel hatred
without being angry?
How can you be angry
without placing blame?
How can you place blame
without passing judgment?
How can you pass judgment
without being deceived?
How can you be deceived
without yielding to pride?
On the other hand . . .
How can you offer love
without also being patient?
How can you offer patience
without showing kindness?
How can you show kindness
without feeling empathy?
How can you feel empathy
without having compassion?
How can you have compassion
without being gracious?
How can you be gracious
without being humble?
How can you humble
with yielding your will
to God?
Michael James Fitzgerald
I remember those
forgotten, nameless,
women and men
who died
in blood-soaked
uniform,
blank checks
written to
the order of
me and a
distracted country,
who lie in
earth scattered
graves,
whose unsung,
bitter monuments,
whisper freedom
to angels and stars.
To you I owe
more than
this elegy,
more than
my ordinary life
can yield.
Michael James Fitzgerald
It’s not our palms
clasped in
welcome
forgiveness,
not the sand
stretching
before us,
touching
infinity,
not your heart
spilling out
unforgettable
tremors,
it’s your
simple truth,
unbearable,
fervent,
familiar,
lashing the shore
of my very being.
Michael James Fitzgerald
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus, whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
Lao Tzu, from Tao Te Ching, no. 76, translated by Stephen Mitchell
