Naked without shame

Naked without shame

We laughing

Thought it a game

Surviving the flames

still breathing

I took your name

Home we created

and tending

the babes we were fated

Darkness not abated

and searching

You never satiated.

The road has been hard

with mourning

better, worse, scarred.

Laughter is mute, marred

in anger 

you're always barred

Naked without shame

I daring 

Now stake my claim

Can you do the same

finally

naked without shame?

Jennifer D. Behnke - February 26, 2015

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII - By Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973)

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this:

where I does not exist, nor you,

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

      Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

      

      I've heard it in the chillest land

      And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Repetition

I give 

I give myself

I give myself away

I give myself away to you.

you stand

you stand there

you stand there silently

you stand there silently ignoring me.

At the cradle

A manger crude, and bare

exposed to open air,

with ox and ass as witness

the birth of God's forgiveness.

At the meanest crib attended,

the Light of the World descended.

And a mother's aching heart weeps

for God's son upon hay sleeps.

Holly berries red as blood,

and pine and fir staked in the mud,

The sparrows feast on the berries

as the slanting sun ceases to be merry.

A festive holiday wreath 

for my child who lies beneath.

And a mother's aching heart weeps

for the child who in her heart, she keeps. 

Jennifer D. Behnke  - December 26, 2014 

Two Christmas Carols - Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

_______________________________

A baby is a harmless thing
And wins our hearts with one accord,
And Flower of Babies was their King,
Jesus Christ our Lord:
Lily of lilies He
Rose of roses, soon to be
Crowned with thorns on leafless tree.

A lamb is innocent and mild

And merry on the soft green sod;
And Jesus Christ, the Undefiled,
Is the Lamb of God:
Only spotless He
Upon his Mother's knee;
White and ruddy, soon to be

Sacrificed for you and me.

Nay, lamb is not so sweet a word,
Nor lily half so pure a name;
Another name our hearts hath stirred,
Kindling them to flame:
'Jesus' certainly
Is music and melody:
Heart with heart in harmony
Carol we and worship we.

O Adonai

O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel,
qui Moysi in igne flammæ rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.


O Adonai, and Leader of the House of Israel,
who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush,
and gavest Him the Law on Sinai:
come and redeem us by Thy outstretched arm.


O Adonai - recorded live December 18, 2014