"O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne,
still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, thou art God,
to endless years the same.

A thousand ages, in thy sight,
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night,
before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come;
be thou our guide while life shall last,
and our eternal home. "

~ Isaac Watts

This past month (December 2012) we have had occassion to bury both my mother and my father. Dad passed away two weeks and one day after mom did. As I contemplated what a major change this is going to be in my life, the above words of Isaac Watts came to mind.

(Cross posted to The Billy Goat Blog.)

HUSH’D be the camps to-day,

HUSH’D be the camps to-day,
And soldiers let us drape our war-worn weapons,
And each with musing soul retire to celebrate,
Our dear commander’s death.

No more for him life’s stormy conflicts,
Nor victory, nor defeat- no more time’s dark events,
Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.
But sing poet in our name,

Sing of the love we bore him- because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.

As they invault the coffin there,
Sing- as they close the doors of earth upon him- one verse,
For the heavy hearts of soldiers.

Walt Whitman – May, 1865

(Acknowledgement to Cosmic America.)

memory...

As I contemplate the years;
How swiftly they flew by,
All those long gone younger days
From once upon a time.

The history we have lived,
The stories we could tell;
Lingering in our memory
Of heaven, earth, and hell.

Feeling it keener every day,
Our mortality drawing near;
Every breath and step we take;
Becomes so very much more dear.

The things we did or did not do;
All the choices we have made;
Have set the pathway of our life;
Steered the course of our life's way.

Our path entwined with many paths
Of those we knew along the way;
Shadows and ghosts in our memory,
Some forgotten, but many stayed.

Hither to the Lord has helped me
Unto this time of life I've came.
To the end He will be with me,
All praise and glory to His name.

J. Willaim Newcomer, October, 2012

Days fall shorter.Trees shed their leafy glory. An expectation in the air. Subtle changes herald Autumn's reign. It's coming! It's coming!

As clouds gather ominously. The wind in uncertain gusts makes the leaves dance on the tree. The air hangs humid and hot. A soft rain falls.

Introducing Twitter Poetry

I recently set up a Twitter account. Twitter posts are limited to 140 spaces. Tonight I "invented" Twitter Poetry. The point is to write a meaningful poetic piece using all 140 spaces. here is my first Twitter poem.

The sun has set. The air is still. Sounds of night fill the air in the gloaming of the day. The earth turns. Stars twinkle. Dawn awaits..

Among the Evergreens

Stately they rise majestically,
A top the hill along the road.
Towering on high, we see them from afar;
A landmark amidst the rolling fields.
Through the opened gate we drive
Along the attending juniper heralds;
Back into the palace court where
Stately Pine Lords hold council and watch
Over the stones neatly arrayed in rows,
Amongst both shaded grass and sunlit lawn;
As Guardians of the sacred hill,
Where laid beneath the sod,
Are the family and friends we knew.

A peaceful place this sacred court
Where from blue sky with scattered clouds
The sun shines warmly down.
So we wander through that sacred ground,
Noting a loved one there,
Or there a neighbor found,
Or ancient ancestor of a generation
Long before our life began.
Here they lay, reposed serene,
Among the evergreens.

J. William Newcomer, March 2012, Copyright © March 2012, all rights reserved.

Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10) by John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy'or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Excerpt from The Aeneid (1)

Oh friends, who greater sufferings still have borne,
(For not unknown to us are former griefs,)
The deity will also give an end,
To These, You have approached the furious rage
Of Scylla and her hoarse resounding cliffs.
You the Cyclopean rocks have known full well.
Recall your courage; banish gloomy fears.
Someday perhaps the memory of these things
Shall yield delight. Through various accidents,
Through many a strait of fortune, we are bound
For Latium, where our fates point out to us
A quiet resting place. There its decreed
Troy's kingdom shall rise again. Be firm,
And keep your hearts in hope of brighter days.

(The Aeneid, Virgil, Book I)

This quote is from the speech of Aeneas to his companions after being swept by a storm upon the coast of Africa near the city of Carthage.

(Quotes from Virgil's Aeneid are from the translation by Christopher Pearse Cranch, 1872)