Myrrh on the Mountains: 33 Haiku

Myrrh on the Mountains:

33 Haiku

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1
Plunge swiftly, pure sword,
straight into my stony heart,
and claim your kingdom.

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2
Rainbow of promise:
judgment is hope, viewed through the
prism of God’s love.

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3
Twelve foundation stones,
eternally set in place,
vibrating with love.

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4
You fit me: white gloves
touching another’s teardrops;
I feel with your heart.

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5
Alabaster box~
translucent heart broken, love
spilled out in worship.

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6
Purple tears falling:
incense of wisteria
praying for the rain.

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7
Monarch butterfly
worships the Creator with
wings: spirit and truth.

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8
Pearls– priceless beauty,
one by one bought and given–
necklace of wisdom.

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9
Seven eyes see my
seven kinds of emptiness:
fill me with your light!

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10
Messenger of fire–
the angel touched me, and my
strength burst into flames.

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11
Eagle soars and sees,
nests in the heights, breathes the free
fresh air of heaven.

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12
Dove and voice sealed it:
You bowed under the water;
My filth went with you.

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13
"Lazarus, come out!
I desire to laugh with you,
and share some supper!"

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14
Covenant in blood,
the almond branch that budded,
ark’s hidden manna.

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15
"You overcame me–
with your eyes and with your fierce
commitment to love."

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16
Zeal for your house burns,
consumes all death and darkness;
fears go up in smoke.

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17
Single candle burns,
radiant with fragrant light
of two lives exchanged.

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18
The trees of the Lord
run with sap, giving sweetness
to the one who wounds.

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19
Blue eyes gaze, wonder
full of love, expounding on
the meaning of blue.

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20
Overcome by love–
the weight of glory given
in a little kiss!

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21
O, for ears to hear
the pulse of the Morning Star,
the heart of my God!

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22
No one but the child
has hands empty enough to
receive the Kingdom.

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23
Maple leaf floating
down the river rapids won’t
fret about the falls.

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24
Prophets, priests and kings
wanted the Pearl of Pearls, but
You gave it to babes.

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25
Christ in us, dawning,
growing brighter and brighter--
the hope of full Day.

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26
"How can I bless You?"
"Your music, not the angels’,
is My heart’s delight."

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27
Straight the snow geese fly,
their lifeline encircled by
the sky’s soft embrace.

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28
Forever begins
with You; I touch the light that
makes time obsolete.

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29
Father’s love guards, with
flaming sword, the Tree of Life
until it saves us.

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30
With every command
comes the faith to obey it.
Doors come with a key.

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31
Cast down the darkness
From the seven high mountains–
restore the glory.

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32
Lily in the thorns–
I cannot have your passion
without sacrifice.

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33
The last enemy,
death– trampled by His Body,
put under His feet.

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Haiku by Karen Gladys Henry ©2009

"Indebted Only to Love" is a photomontage by Karen Gladys Henry ©2008

You Are The Treasure

You Are The Treasure

You are a jewel more precious than any
Magnificent splendor. Your facets are many.
You sparkle with wisdom, virtue and glory–
Life irreproachable, flooded with light.
Lord, make us holy so we may approach You
And worship within your unbreachable might.
You are the treasure, Love beyond measure,
Worth inexpressible, Father of Light.

You have been kind and beckoned us come–
(Though we’ve been blind, deaf, crippled and dumb–
Powerless just like the idols we served)
Through the Door in the heavenlies, grant undeserved.
There is no darkness in You at all.
Your presence consumes each occlusion and flaw.
We are your jewels prepared for the Lord:
Cut, polished and set by the two-edged Sword.
You are the treasure, Love beyond measure,
Worth inexpressible, Father of Light.

You are a gemstone: rainbows of fire
Fill us with fearsome awe and desire.
Pure in perfection, your sevenfold light
Transforms us with visions of heavenly sight.
We are enthralled by your radiant ruth,
Forever absorbed in the love of the Truth.
You are a jewel more precious than any
Magnificent splendor. Your facets are many.
You are the treasure, Love beyond measure,
Worth inexpressible, Father of Light.

by Karen Gladys Henry © 2004

Artwork "The Emerald Throne" is a photo composite

by Karen Gladys Henry © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Converseven

Click the image to read the poem larger.

The White Stone

There You stand, majestic and mercy-minded,

in the ferocious white radiance of Your judgment hall.

Eyes of the Lion, fierce, yet love-gentled,

beckon me;
I proceed until the peace of Your
fearsome
proximity
washes over me in hushed powerful rivers of wind.

I hold out my hand in response to Your thought~

~In my palm You place an oval white stone,

opaline, yet priceless in its stability.

I gaze upon it in wonder,

as it begins to carve upon itself,

in eloquent soft fire, the noble new name

You had promised me long ago.

The jewel offers me its perpetual memorial

of light.

My heart beats triumphantly

for the many trials and struggles

that have won this name for me, humbly~

~for without Your constant aid

I would still have failed.

You close your strong, graceful,

scarred hands slowly around mine~

~the stone pulsing with a living warmth.

You look deeply into me~

my heart, my entire life~

~and in Your sonorous, joy-ringing voice

You say, "Well done."

Your smile wraps around me

in a king-brotherly embrace.

As this vision of hope solidifies

within me,

I advance towards You,

tension-fighting with yes and no.

"I know", Your eyes say~"Come."

Presently, You place a hot, rough stone

in my hand~
a huge raw garnet that glows

carmine and heavy~
like Your blood.

And the stone says,

with Your blissful-sad-lovely voice,

"I forgive you. Do not give up."

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Karen Gladys Henry ©2004
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"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it." Revelation 2:17

Call of the Bride

Call of the Bride

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Beneath the white silk damask sky

She waits, breathlessly–
Her heart pounding as she gazes

Through an open door in heaven,
Her foot upon the silver sea with mirrored clouds amounding.
Hidden fish graze, silent, as a rose blush

Gently spreads upon His fragrant breath,
Deepening the red glow within the thunderheads.
Horns of light break through from the

Blinding brilliance of His anteroom,
Carrying warmth into the chilly spring.

She dips her satin slipper in, making ripples
That urge out into the vastness with a ever-increasing plea:

"Come quickly for me, my Love".
Wisteria vine shakes free its husky scent,

And the veil that hides the woman’s face blows back,
Revealing tears that flow in rivulets

Along the contours of her cheeks,

Blanched at His thunder.
Her breastbone resonates with fear and trembling

That take her, echo through her, shake her.

She leans against the gnarled oak, guard of the shore,

For generations unspeaking;
And as her reddening ear presses hard against the bark,

She hears its wizened voice–
Deep and groaning like ancient branches in a tempest:

"I am waiting for you."
And in it she hears the cry of the Groom,

The cry of creation, the cry of the unborn,
The cry of the seers, the cry of the martyrs,

The cry of heaven to make all things new.

Then a wail, long and terrible,

Called out from the depths of her being by the cries of the ages,
Swirls with crimson and gold and cobalt and emerald

To stir the four winds of heaven,
As the curtain of her heart is rent in twain

With a sound like the rending of the sky.

The woman falls to the ground weeping into the moss.

The angels watch hushed, awestruck,

Wondering, pondering the cross that the Bride and Groom share.

Fog rolls in from the silver sea,
Luminous, voluminous, redolent with frankincense and myrrh;

Hope rolls in, billows in, envelopes her.
Silence looms for half an hour until flecks of fire

Begin to sparkle down her spine,
Down the tendrils of her hair, down the long length of her legs,

Down her fingers in the moss.

And little streams of fire trickle into the deep green moss,

Across the garden paths, out into the silver sea,

Until the world glitters with the fire

Of her passionate love for her Groom.

Then she rises, slowly at first,

Gracefully stretching up onto toetips,

And commences a winsome dance
In her white linen gown~ fine as gossamer,

Embroidered by unseen wisdoms~

Spinning faster and faster,
Like a whirlwind from Eden,

Until all the winds of the earth and sky

Are pulled into her dance.
A golden glory grows ever brighter

And more magnificent around her,

Her adoration beautifying her
Beyond all the treasures of the world of man.

Transported by pure joy into the very Throneroom of heaven,
She falls at His feet in wonderment and wordless worship.

Then the Bridegroom smiles,

And the smile lingers like a summer sunset.

Ripe figs drop to the earth.
Calves drop, and foals drop,

And fawns drop and lambs drop

As the earth replies in fruitfulness of joy.

The earth yields up all its crops, glorying in the sunshine

Of the Groom’s smile. And the reapers come,
Wielding their mighty sickles,

Gathering up the golden, sun-ripened grain

Into the storehouses of heaven.

Then He takes up His sword,

His magnificent two-edged sword~

Sharper than sharpness~ and splits the sky.
He splits the mountains, and He splits the sea,

And He sunders the heavens in twain.
Stars fall like an autumn rain.

He splits the atoms in rock and air,

Fire consuming all the visible realm.

And His voice– like an orchestra of trumpets,

Like unfathomable waters

Crashing on immeasurable shores,

Like the rumblings of the seven holy thunders,

Like the applause of all the universe–

Cries out to the Bride:

Arise!

*

Karen Gladys Henry, circa 2006

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Inspiration (Write Painterly)

Inspiration (Write Painterly )

Wander placidly
Under graceful, glowing trees.
Walk poetically
In the silky breeze.
Watch patiently
The flitting amber patterns.
Wish prolifically
For limpid scenes of truth.
Woo persistently
The verdure’s gold reflections.
Wake prayerfully
And follow His design.
Worship purely
The Master of expression.
Widen prismatically
When christened by the sun.

Work playfully
To hear the meaning in the melody.
Waltz prophetically
To the concert of His voice.
Wait pensively
For chromatic consecration.
Welcome perceptively
The chords of pearly light.
Wonder poignantly
At the merging of creators.
Write painterly
The revelation of His choice.

Karen Gladys Henry ©2003