Moor (Or, a metaphor. which rhymes.)

I'll take you as my lover, out upon the moor;
We'll dance in the turnings of unbroken skylit grey,
Safely jacketed for now in freedom's glistening allure:
Until flushing high and golden rises fiery midday.

I'll take you as my lover, in the dusk and dawn,
When the earth is in the shadows, purring lost and low,
And everyone is absent, all knowledge foregone
Until the sun sends one above and you below.

I'll take you as my lover, the arms to be my treasure
The wuthering bleakness our bed for thought
Aside I'll toss my thoughts of you, without credence whatsoever
I come to you again when all my soul's eclipsed for naught.

I'll take you as my lover, and never see another
As long as my eyes are shut fast against the wind.
Your flame that never touches me to suffer
Wreathed in mist, darkly our days forever limned.

Now I take you as my lover, out upon the moor
With the stars locked out of sight and mind
And the changeling unblue skies our only door.
And in the summer of our love, unrefined—

I'll flee you yet, my lover, for the hundredth time:
And when you see me fairly crowned on the mountain's height
Forget that what saw me through the winter cold was fine.
Hands are the sure making of both the wrong and right.

Autumn makes you still my lover, you who pose no "why?"
Your shape never falters from its tranquil, wild arts.
And the spring is cold, my lover, between you and I
No sun can draw around us, only show our frosted hearts.

- : -

  [20 January & 11 February 2012]

On the Coexistence of Awesome and Suck

(With both "awesome" and "suck" being nouns in this context.)

So often we tend to think of "my life is good" and "this is the dregs of my coffee cup of life right now" to be a dichotomy—two states of being that are diametrically opposed.  You're either in mostly good circumstances or you're in mostly bad circumstances.  Or at least I often think that way, probably because a lot of artists tend to juxtapose them in popular worship songs.  But I've been thinking today—there are some circumstances in my life right now which are definitely adding to World Suck, in both minor and major ways.  But there are also ways in which God just keeps showing up, proving that He's good, loving, faithful, a good listener, sovereign…yes, all the time.  For example, my home life is on a roller coaster with a very high nausea rating right now, but I'm getting two years of free college tuition.…I'm stressed beyond reason about these intermediate French classes I have to take, but I've suddenly started sleeping better than I have all year.… I might not have any idea how I'm going to finish a novel by the end of the year, but I'm no longer catatonically depressed about it.…Facing the labyrinth of choices I'm going to have to make in the next two-ish years literally makes me sick to my stomach, but I'm getting it really hammered into my head for the first time that I can trust my friends to love me even if I'm not perfect.  My life has nadirs and zeniths dwelling side by side, and it always will (if not to this degree all the time).
…Yes, my second thought after all this was, "Well, duh."  But I think we can tend to dwell on one or the other most of the time, so it's nice to have it out of my blind spot for a few hours.

I tend to be an optimist in the short term and a pessimist in the long term (e.g., I think human culture as a whole is undergoing steady entropy, but I tend to be hopeful and "look on the bright side" regarding things that happen in my life and the lives of people I know).  Comes with the Christianity, I suppose. (Fallen world / sovereign God.  Also not really a dichotomy.)

…I have no succinct or revelatory ending for this post.  That's pretty much all I have to say.