Sitting under the tree of life each year,
We look out over the snowy fields,
Dreaming of the possibilities before us,
Meditating on the journey ahead.
Ready to resume our voyage,
We arise, compass in hand,
With Scripture verses to guide us,
We start out once again.
Each day we walk,
One foot in front of the other,
Long, purposeful strides,
Or wee, tiny, baby steps.
Some days we run,
Helter skelter, running in circles,
Intent on a certain destination,
Frustrated that we're not there yet.
Some walk with a partner,
Someone to lean on when they tire,
And together, they become,
The beam that holds the family up.
While others walk alone,
Through choice or circumstance,
Sustained with God's whispered words,
With hope and His strength, they fly.
Once in a while we get a ride,
Sitting calmly in the back of the bus,
Content to let someone else drive,
Knowing their route is the one we need.
Others sit directly behind the driver,
Barking commands and instructions,
Commenting on the driver's shortcomings,
Demanding to go faster.
Sometimes we travel the same weary path,
Spinning our wheels in a hurry to get no where
Missing the sweet, delicate flowers,
Growing quietly beside the pavement.
For some the journey is short and sweet,
Their path is smooth and even,
For others it is long and arduous,
Filled with bumpy roads and pitfalls.
Some wait by the side of the road,
Unsure of which direction to choose,
Waiting and waiting,
Allowing indecision to be their direction.
Some travel with blindfolds,
Deaf to the shrieks of the drones,
Feeling safe in a faceless crowd,
Unaware of who is behind the curtain.
Others rely exclusively on their faith,
Assured they are on the right path,
And as the doors and windows open
Things just seem to fall into place,
As we journey down our many paths,
Detaching from the goal of success,
We gain humility from our many falls,
Growing taller each time we get back up.
Whatever path we choose to take,
If we are thankful and appreciative,
For all the teachers and guides we meet,
Our journey will be a worthwhile one.
December 21, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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Some folks say, “It's just a dog.”
Others exclaim, “It's just a cat.”
Those are the unfortunate folks,
Who never felt the connection,
The close bond cemented by love,
Of a selfless and unconditional love.
Our pets come into our lives,
When we really need a friend,
One who listens without judgment,
Friends who will always stand by us,
Through both the rain and the sun,
Who love for who they think we are.
Friends who see only the best in us,
No matter how many times we fall,
Are there to help pick up the pieces,
Who patiently wait by our side,
As we wail and gnash our teeth,
Or cry until our eyes are crimson.
When we take them for granted,
They just seem to take it in stride,
They are so happy when we are there,
They forget what happened yesterday,
And never worry about tomorrow,
Teaching us the importance of now.
When sickness comes to call,
Invisible monsters who bring pain,
Pouncing on their helpless victims,
Bringing anguish and suffering,
We struggle to help our friends,
But feel powerless and frightened.
Our friends fight tirelessly against their monsters,
Going to great lengths to hide their pain from us,
Doing their best to carry on as if nothing is wrong,
Knowing in their hearts how much we want to help them,
And as the monster's hold gets stronger and stronger,
The love in their hearts gives them to strength to go on.
When the pain and suffering takes control of their life,
The monster has a choke hold than will not lessen,
When there are no more days that can be called good,
And the options available dwindle down to nothing,
We need to reach down and draw a line in the sand,
We need to agree that it is time for the pain to stop.
When that horrific day we dread finally comes,
Our heart implodes into a thousand, little pieces,
We cry tsunami tears that never seem to stop,
The fog rolls in and storm clouds confine us,
Our stomach is tangled up in twisted knots,
Our voices hoarse from shrieking prayers of grief.
We try to remember the good times,
But our brain cannot seem to let go,
On the image of our best friend,
The vet with a stethoscope in hand,
Telling us that the heart has stopped,
Our beloved friend is gone.
Those that understand our grief,
Know there is nothing left to say,
Other than our loved one has gone off,
To meet all the others who went before,
With no more monsters to hurt them,
They run and play like youngsters.
God is there with all his creatures,
With St. Francis and all the angels,
Together they all look down upon us,
Sending prayers that we dry our tears,
As they play and wait patiently for the day,
When we will all be together once again.
November 10, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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God brings us many chances to learn,
Through those that come into our lives,
We are given the opportunity to grow,
When we share our lives with others, we learn.
The lessons we learn in this lifetime,
Are as varied and numerous,
As the forms of teachers,
That we share our life with.
Some of them are human,
Others come in canine form,
And still others are feline,
All together they teach many lessons.
Many of the lessons they share,
We get right away,
While others it takes longer,
For us to grasp their meaning.
The human lessons we receive,
Come through many different sources,
And are scattered all throughout,
The years or months we spend here.
Through both marriage and friendship,
Bring lessons about love and commitment,
Leaning to care for someone else,
Putting their needs above your own.
Even the sadness of divorce or death,
Bring lessons that are helpful,
We learn about the shortness of life,
And the importance of God in our lives.
When we open our hearts,
And bring into our lives,
A canine or feline friend,
Our lives become a gift.
A gift that we both receive and give,
A blessing we share with God,
As we care for these special beings,
Whether young or old, we are blessed.
Both puppies and kittens,
Whether or not their mother is there,
Teach us the crucial importance,
Of appreciating those that care for us.
As they struggle in the dark,
To find the nourishment they need,
They are confident in the knowledge,
That God will take care of them.
As their eyes open and they see the world,
Their young bodies growing and getting stronger,
They learn about sharing, about give and take,
As they tumble along making their way through life.
When sickness comes to call,
With its variations of pain and suffering,
We watch with awe as they take it in stride,
Never angry with God or screaming, “Why me?”
And at whatever the age, or whatever the circumstances,
When we as humans touch their lives,
They look up to us with unlimited trust,
As we walk with them, they teach us about love.
Whether their stay with us is long or painfully short,
The lessons we learn are up to us,
Most of the time we humans,
Think that we are the superior race.
However, all it takes is one happy smile,
That greets us at the door, day after day,
And then waits patiently for us,
To shed our silly worries and woes.
They are called God's creatures for a reason,
If we are open to their lessons,
They teach us so many, many things,
But most importantly, they teach us unconditional love.
October 27, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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First time we met,
You exploded out of your crate,
Charging at full speed,
Towards all life had to offer.
Your soft brown eyes,
Twinkled with ceaseless mischief,
But when one looked deeper,
There was a love of unlimited measure.
Oblivious to where you were going,
You jumped into my lap in the front seat,
Struggling to get your nose,
Out the window to catch every smell.
When it came time for us to head home,
With leash flapping outside the window,
You sat in the back seat, lurching to and fro,
Trying to take in every scene that was passing by.
To sit and stay you learned in a day,
However, walking on a leash was a struggle,
Always watchful for the flying birds,
Ready to follow them into the open sky.
Your walking gait was a brisk trot,
Stepping highly like a frisky Thoroughbred,
Your head like a loose weathervane on a windy day,
Always vigilant for those sneaky little squirrels.
Your coat was a shiny black onyx mantle,
Your shirt was starched white with black speckles,
Your long black legs ended with white stocking feet,
And your Dane tail was black with a fluorescent white tip.
Your bark was a thunderous bellow, so deep and so gruff,
Scaring everyone for miles around who heard it,
As the reverberations cracked open the sound barrier,
Most were unaware of the marshmallow behind the roar.
Your play time with Alvin the cat was hilarious,
As you snarled and displayed your furious teeth,
Alvin merely stood up on his haunches,
And all 14 inches of him, backed you down the hall.
You guarded our meager upstairs apartment,
By snoozing loudly at the top of the stairs,
Ready to pounce and cover with dog kisses,
Anyone asinine enough to open the front door.
Jumping and leaping in the freshly fallen snow,
Losing your favorite bright yellow tennis ball,
You tunneled under the endless layers of white wool,
Emerging with a face covered with white crystals.
Blinking through frozen eyelashes and wearing white whiskers,
You proudly pranced through the drifts with your prize,
The yellow ball firmly clenched between your teeth,
Your head held high, until you dropped it again.
Our time together was so very precious to me,
You shared your unconditional love with everyone,
Your goofy smile and your twinkling eyes,
Won over anyone and everyone we ever met.
You breezed through my life,
A zephyr whirlwind of love,
And as quickly and you came,
You left at same warp drive speed.
Jens Joachim Baltazar
Thank you for coming into my life!
I will never forget you!
October 23, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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Some of us start out broken,
Broken homes, broken families,
Never knowing what love is,
We stagger and stumble about,
Looking for where we think love should be.
Some of us start out whole,
But end up broken by life's storms,
Blown about by hurricanes of helplessness,
Wracked with rain storms of grief and loss,
Struck with flash floods of fear and desperation.
Some of us are broken by our sins,
Sins too many to count,
We feel lost and unworthy of God's love,
Ashamed, we walk away from the church,
Leaving behind the only thing that can save us.
When life's challenges rips our heart into bloody shreds,
Clouds cover our conscience with confusion,
Thousands of thoughts crash through the breakers,
God's whispers are over run by the roar of silence,
Dazed and lost, we zombie walk through our life
When loneliness strikes us down,
HE comes to walk with us,
Helping us climb those difficult peaks,
And when we slide into valleys of despair,
He brings His light to guide our steps.
The love that comes from God,
Is an unconditional, infinite, boundless love,
And as our soul stumbles and falls,
Traveling on the path of starkness,
His love surrounds us and lights our way.
God's love heals our brokenness,
Putting together the bloody puzzle pieces,
Mending the patches of emotional hurts,
Sewing together the seams of our sorrows,
Bandaging the bruises of our soul.
God's love is always with us,
Sometimes our sins block His presence,
Other times our ego rises up and takes control,
Then other times a dark voice,
Shouts in our ears and we listen.
God sees through the masks we show the world,
He knows the truth that lives in our heart,
The good news is that He also hears,
The times we pray to do better,
And HE smiles down upon us.
Then one day, we realize love follows us,
Everywhere we go, everyone we meet,
Love is the friend who listens to us,
The stranger who shares their smile,
Love's mantle of softness makes us feel safe.
With God's love in our hearts,
We have the strength to carry our sorrows,
To endure the wounds inflicted by others,
Our brokenness is our salvation,
God's love is our sword and shield.
September 16, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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When we find ourselves in darkness,
Not a tiny glimmer of light to be seen,
From out of nowhere, we hear a whisper,
He is there.
When we hear the disapproval of others,
Whether murmured behind our backs
Or launched directly in our face,
He is there.
When we feel lost and alone,
In a world filled with busy people,
Frightened, we get caught in a web,
He is there.
When our path become rocky,
We stumble and fall many times,
With our knees and elbows bloody,
He is there.
When we need a mother's touch,
He sends Mary with her motherly care,
To dry our tears and make us smile,
He is there.
When we think we can do it ourselves,
We forget his laws and make our own,
His forgiveness reconciles us back to Him,
He is there.
He wraps us with his strong arms,
In a safe and secure bear hug,
Our fears seem to slip silently away,
He is there.
His love endures through rain and storm,
He guides our steps when we listen to Him,
Our hearts fly with the eagles,
He is there.
May 27, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God
and God abides in him.1
Words born of dreams and illusions,
Words that speak of a great love,
Greater than Romeo and Juliet,
Greater than Tristan and Isolde,
Words spoken to paint a self-portrait.
Spouting words of enduring, endless love,
A love that will outlast hurricanes and tsunamis,
But when a gentle zephyr wind whispers in,
It turns away and flees from the fear of the unfamiliar,
Terrified of the talk of a passionate love of God.
Whenever one talks of a love that excludes God,
Without acknowledging the divine, it becomes human love,
Like the love between Napoleon and Josephine,
When brought to the truth and illuminated with God's love,
It fades and dissolves into a fear filled void.
Human love, Eros, is a mesmerizing intoxication,
Striking down and overpowering reason and intellect,
Dehumanizing all those caught up in its incantations,
Sinking into the inebriation of fleeting human happiness,
A love devoid of God's love is empty and faint-hearted.
True love from God promises eternal love,
A truth far greater than our everyday existence,
For only when both body and soul are united,
We forget ourselves and seek the virtue of our beloved,
This is how we understand what true love is.
True love involves a life-long discovery of each other,
Moving beyond the selfishness that expects to hear certain words,
And when ears turns deaf when those words are not returned,
Is a time to reflect and meditate on the truth of our expectations,
What are the veiled motives hidden in a heart closed to God's love?
Love is divine because it comes from God and unites us to God
Through this unifying process it makes us a we
Which transcends our divisions and make us one
Until in the end God is all in all
.2
11 John 4:16
2Corinthians 15:28
March 16, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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The sun shines on the lovely lilac and mauve crocuses,
Wrapped with their woolen, winter white shawl,
Reaching up toward the sun, the shawl falls from their shoulders,
Moisture bleeds into the ground and the stems drink thirstily.
Awaking from their long winter nap, daffodils poke their heads up,
Up through the womb of the nurturing earth that surrounds them,
Their bright yellow trumpets, small and yet to be formed,
Drinking the sustenance of melting snow nestled around them.
Gone are the long, dark nights that seemed to last forever,
Departed is the sadness and weeping that came with Good Friday,
The tomb that once brought pain and sorrow is now empty,
A new day is here and the sun has risen, bright and beautiful.
Cleansed from all our sins, we have been re-born in our faith,
Free of the darkness that wants to chain us to our past mistakes,
No longer a prisoner to the ways that strive to bring us down,
The sun has given us a totally new lease on life.
Fragrant flowers bloom in the fields that line the road,
Rows of yellow daffodils blow trumpets of joy filled notes,
White crocus ensiform petals wave, their blades drawn and ready,
The sun follows us, warming us with love, as we walk our path.
Our 40 days of Lenten practices have come to a quiet close,
Through our fasting and almsgiving, we have learned humility,
Our prayer life has become more passionate and more vibrant,
The long, cold winters nights have turned into warm, spring days.
The cold, winter winds have been replaced by warm, zephyr breezes,
Our hearts are overcome with an ecstasy that words cannot convey,
Our faith has been resurrected from a cold, stone sealed tomb,
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ has been risen from the dead!
March 16, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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Long before the Lenten season begins,
We roll with robotic revolutions down the road,
Our tires traveling well established terrain,
Through painted cardboard scenery,
Of stately elms, study oaks and merry maples.
Our Friday fasting is familiar,
But our almsgiving is erratic,
We follow our God whose ways are mighty,
With mechanical motions and minor movements,
Continuing with the intense desires that rule our lives.
Holding onto the balloon string of our past,
We circle around and around,
Unable or unwilling to chart a different path,
Haunted by all our should-haves and could-haves,
We spin our wheels in the comfort of communal lanes.
Wishing we had the strength to wander the desert,
We cower as looming landscapes leer and belittle,
They laugh with brittle condescension at our Lenten practices,
As we wallow through soggy snowless meadows of wilted brown grass,
And gray granulated layers of sandpaper float overhead.
Praying for the courage to consent to a sliver of suffering,
Terrified that our prayers just might be answered,
A sudden spring shower of solitude envelops us,
And as our cross is lowered onto our shoulders
We feel our soul being lifted into the clouds.
The spring showers seep upwards saturating the mind,
Drowning all movement and thought,
Paralyzing limbs into a cocoon of apathy,
As hours turn into days of lifeless living,
Comatose motions perform daily tasks.
From our vantage point high in the clouds,
We watch our body struggling with the weight of the cross,
As darkness descends encasing the body with its shiny veneer,
Frosty icicles encrust the eyes, weighing down heavy eyelids,
Plunging the body into a deep hibernation mode.
As our Lenten days turn into weeks,
Slivers of sunlight streak through the dense fog,
Angels flock around with shields of crystal hope,
Brandishing swords of glistening audacity,
Slashing the nets of indolence, shattering the paralysis of fear.
The darkness explodes into nothingness,
Boulders of anxiety smash harmlessly to the ground,
Once lifeless limbs begin to reach out to others,
God's mercy opens hearts once cold and comatose,
Hearts that now burn with God's ardent flame.
The love given by God is shared with our neighbors,
Our new path sparkles like freshly fallen snow,
The Blessed Virgin Mary and her Son beckon to us,
Suffering and pain no longer frighten us,
As the joy in suffering is unveiled.
Our path is paved with palm branches,
And we understand the truth behind the Passion,
Knowing that Jesus willingly died for our sins,
Helps us to continue on with our Lenten practices,
As we journey onward to our own Jerusalem.
March 16, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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We all struggle with blindness,
It comes in all shapes and sizes,
Some of us have a single type,
While others have multiple strains.
For some it is a purely physical thing,
Something from birth or later in life,
When our eyes are partitioned off,
Into a separate room of their own.
For some it is an emotional blindness,
Whether it be hurts from childhood,
Or traumas experienced as an adult,
Their pain leaves us paralyzed with shame.
While for others, it is a spiritual blindness,
Unable to believe in a love they cannot see,
Whether raised without knowing God,
Or making a choice to ignore His presence.
For some of us, the darkness comes and goes,
A swinging door of joy and sorrow,
Some days the sun dazzles down upon us,
Other days the darkness devours us.
On days when the light shines bold and bright,
We are showered with a warmth that hugs us close,
Helping us to see the hurdles and pitfalls,
That come with this mortal life.
Confident we surge forward,
Positive we are on the right path,
Sharing our smile with everyone we meet,
Singing a bright and joyful song as we walk along.
Then come the clouds,
Sometimes they come silently,
So slowly and deviously they slither,
That we never notice their coming,
Until their darkness consumes us.
Sometimes they rudely barge in,
Thundering their way across the sky,
Terrifying the timid and the bashful,
Scattering all our hopes and dreams.
Obscuring the sun and all its warmth,
Bringing a coldness that shivers our spirits,
Disguising all our good thoughts,
With a clammy covering of fear.
Cowering in a corner, we hold our breathe,
Hoping we can hide from their dark piercing eyes,
Wondering how long they will keep us,
Paralyzed with worry, we wait.
Peeking from the shadows of our distress,
A tiny flicker of prayer catches our eye,
We watch as it dances and spins,
Evading the darkness as it leaps and twirls.
The harder the darkness tries to snatch it,
The more it dances and giggles,
As it spins it begins to expand,
Generating more prayers, it grows and grows.
Suddenly the prayers slit a hole in the darkness,
Letting in a rainbow of light and laughter,
Colors that circle and cover the blackness,
Bringing a warmth that soothes and heals.
For those of us with physical blindness,
We find that loving hand held out to us,
A hand filled with laughter and friendship,
A hand that brings warmth and compassion.
For those of us with emotional blindness,
Our chains of loneliness and abandonment,
Are broken with a hand that hugs us,
Freeing us from the shame that bind us.
And finally, for those of us who turn from God,
Whether it’s just for a minute or a longer period of time,
His hand comes from outstretch arms,
To hold us close as we walk our difficult path.
So, whatever form of blindness we carry,
Prayer is the light we hold within,
That scatters the darkness and all its fears,
As it dances and sings deep within our heart.
January 20, 2013
© 2007, Jacqueline Newport, Purple Poetry Path
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