There Are Stars!

There are stars! There are stars!
So, I stare with the eyes of a child-
Forever awed by the sparkling lights
In the wide open blackness above me.
The oh-so-familiar shapes whisper wonder
Into my soul as I track them across the sky.
Some I can name and some I cannot, but
I don’t care… I just like looking.
The early morning moon beckons me to
Stop, to watch, to wait for sunrise
Until earth’s own star beams brightly
In the endless deep blue overhead.
Something inside me still searches, though,
For pale moon and fading starlight.
I cannot wait for the marvel of
A clear night sky to return, because…
There are stars! There are stars!

Through Death’s Door

Hope lies through death’s door-
Death to self, death to dreams,
Death to ambition’s striving efforts.
Hope hides in the heart
(Though despair thinks it has won),
Then blossoms like a rose with
The scent of love, the color of faith. 

Hope brings new light to blind belief
Till all the darkness vanishes and
Clarity of purpose stiffens resolve.
But… One must be willing
To walk through death’s door,
To step from the finite into the infinite…