Above the Orange Sky

 

Above the Orange Sky

(“This is what God told us: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” 1 John 5:11)

In the regions of the orange sky
I have laid down my restless heart only to
take it up again when the phone does not ring
for more than a day.

My moments were once filled with 6-strings,
my days with a dozen friends,
and my nights with dreams of music and members
of the band.

I want to hear, “how are you” again,
I want to ask, “how is your heart, my friend?”
I want to be the voice that only speaks peace,
the fingers that only send safety in a world so
anxious it starts burning before the sun comes up.
Sometimes the fire in our minds is a hell like dying,
held up by fear that drowns the words we know the best.

I would call you up, hear your voice and know, before
the first word
that, just like the garden you water;
you are thirsty for someone to cool your brain.
We are much the same.

I have tried to water my own for so long I fear
only weeds exist where roses once bloomed.
I know it is too soon to make a final judgment,
but the smoke hazes my vision of the better day.

Will you call me up, hear my voice and say, before
the first tear
that, just like the poetry I write;
I am a jumbled alphabet waiting for someone to rhyme?
Would you give me time?

You read words that water your mind,
words that cause tears to drop upon the page.
You are fearful as I; I am thirsty as you.
Words or water, bread baked together
or broken at the table
what if the sounds we remember
of music, and names, and holy silence
shatter our reliance on tiny rules
and remind us of greater loves.

I will join you in your garden if you will hear my song,
and perhaps a dozen, perhaps only one, will join us
and hike along the trails of delight until the stars rise
above the orange sky.