What Took So Long?

Someday at last I’ll find a man
Who’ll take me in his arms
And kiss as only one love can.
I’ll know at last I’ve found him.
From his kiss I’ll pull away,
Slap his face, and then I’ll say,

“What took so long?
Where were you through the lonely years
Through broken-hearted tears?
Why did I have to search so far
To only now be in your arms?
What took you so darn long?”

A fateful day will come in time.
He’ll put his hand in mine,
And sinking to one knee
Pull out a diamond ring.
He’ll ask if I will be his wife.
I’ll lift him up and then reply,

“What took so long?
Where were you through the lonely years
Through broken-hearted tears?
I hoped and prayed for any sign
For one who’d be forever mine.
What the blazes took so long?”

As our time draws to an end,
Now he at last my lifelong friend.
Every ounce of tears and pain
Was worth the time I spent with him;
And for a love as real as his,
I would have waited two thousand years.

A Friend's Tears

“Have you ever had a broken heart?”

The forlorn lover cried,

“And from your love been torn apart?”

Young tears stood in her eyes.

Younger still, her friend beside

Outstretched a comforting hand,

“Ne’er have I surfed the lover’s tide

Nor been washed to lost-love’s sand.

“But heartbreak is not only given

To those who from their lads are riven.”

Confusion crossed the lover’s face

And to it her friend replied.

“Heartbreak comes to expatriate displaced

With no friends at their side.

“Heartbreak is also a father’s love

That is a love no more.

Where once told tales of heaven above

Now throws out insults heavily sore.

“Heartbreak is when home is gone.

Darkness invades from deep inside

And every hope seems flown.

No one answers when you cry.

“Heartbreak comes too when a hero’s lost

On the battlefield of cancer.

Grandfather dear has Jordon crossed

And sees no more his little dancer.”

The lover weeps at pain so deep.

The friend now lends a shoulder.

Soon gone, the lover’s tears don’t keep,

But the friend's tears make love stronger.

Buy a Dolorian

They say that time will heal the wounds
But sadly I'm still missing you.
So I keep moving faster,
Hoping that time moves faster too.

I wish I could buy a Dolorian
And drive to a future where I'm with you.
I'd never go back:
This would just be a memory in the rear view.

But time has a mind of its own,
And instead of letting me leave,
It keeps dripping slowly and
The scars on my heart just won't heal.

The pain makes me want to jump
Off the Empire State building.
Flying through time to when
I had just met you and fallen.

As if time could be in a bottle,
I'd drink it up faster and faster;
Hoping time would disappear
But that only makes it go slower.

If I could meet an angel whose touch
Could zap away the pain,
Or if time could be rewritten
So that you would come back again.

Instead I'm stuck in the storm without you.
I'd fling myself around the sun
To bring our love
Out of extinction.

Maybe somewhere is a parallel universe
Where a version of you holds a version of me.
But I'm stuck in the void with a broken heart
And memories of a love that was not meant to be.

Though it seemed so right,
My time with you
Was never meant to be.
'Twas a wrinkle, a fluke.

In frustration, I'm punching the clocks
Like tenderized meat,
Hanging them out to dry
And making time melt on the trees.

So either I'll have to learn patience
And wait for the right time to come,
Or else I'll be growing daffodils
On my grave with their leaves in the sun.

1 Corinthians 10:6-13 in couplets

Listen to the example of those set before,

So that we may learn evil to deplore.

Following idols, they immorally play.

Twenty-three thousand fell on that day.

Testing the Lord, His good laws to break,

Were tested themselves by the bite of the snake.

Complaining in pride, often they grumbled;

‘Till one day – destroyed – and so were they humbled.

Listen to the example of those set before,

So that we may learn evil to deplore.

We who were born to the ends of the ages

Take warning from the sinners preserved in these pages;

For the one who thinks most that he’s standing tall

Is often the one most likely to fall.

Temptations are common, not one is rare,

But God is faithful.  Do not despair!

“No temptation too much” is His assurance.

God provides a way, if you give endurance.

Read 1 Cor. 10:6-13 (NASB)

Determined to Fly

Like a bird up flying high;

Ruffled feathers, nothing but sky.

World below, so small yet vast.

Abruptly… SMACK… a pane of glass.

Awful feeling as I fall:

Confusion, panic, height so tall.

Abruptly… BAM… I hit the grass.

God above, so far yet vast.

Was He watching, was He there?

Is there someone, one who’d care?

Strangers pass, the stars look down.

Darkness brings a deeper frown.

Then I ran, stumbling, groping,

Faintly fearing, barely hoping.

Was he gone or was I alone?

Then he came and brought me home.

Broken wing on broken wing,

He knew my hurt and shared my sting.

With outstretched wings, he shared my pain.

I am determined to fly again.

I Long For Death

An old man on his cold bed lay.

His clothes were brown, his hair was gray.

His health, fame, fortune: gone away.

He took a deeper breath to say,

“I long for death;

For death, you see,

Is life to me.”

“No, no!” I cried and grabbed his hand.

“Don’t say such things!  You must understand.

Hope for life, there is no Further Land.

Don’t long for death

For death

Is death.”

He shook his head and closed his eyes.

He breathed his last, a peaceful sigh.

He longed for death

That was his doom,

Leading to his final ruin.

Feeling death so close, I left to see the lively world.

Out on the porch was a little girl:

Bows and buttons, ribbons and curls.

So far from death

No death for me

Just life to see.

This little girl stared at the sky.

She breathed a little dreaming sigh.

“What do you wish, girl?” quoth I.

A moment of contemplation, then a reply,

“I long for death;

For death, you see,

Is life to me.”

I in frustration clutched my head.

How horrid!  That one so young wished herself dead!

“You have life, wish not for death instead!

Family, future, friends; husband, children, homestead…

Don’t long for death,

For death

Is death!”

Their point of view seemed so deranged,

‘Gainst all I’d heard of the world’s familiar strain.

But after that day I began to hear a new refrain

More ancient than the world’s beat and bang,

“O long for death;

For death, you see,

Is life to me.”

How strange, but true, the point did ring

That now I hear the angels sing

A Saviour came, the oddest thing,

Who by His blood Salvation brings.

He changed death;

And death by Him,

Is life to me.

So wrong before, but now I say,

O I proclaim it all the day,

“I long for death;

For death, you see,

Is life to me.”