Contents

A variety of Psalms by Larry Pahl below

SUNRISE

Who would have ever thought that the Creator of Heaven and Earth

would come to my house to visit?

The paint on the door is peeling.

The grass is too long.

But He lets the light of the sun shine through the smudged windows, quietly.

ALMOST ANGELS

If we could see what angels see,

If we could know what angels know,

Then, Lord, would we do your will on earth, as in heaven?

But—how well you know—we are not angels, Lord.

FLOWERS

Lord, I took time to stop and smell the flowers, and You were there.

But I was soon back into my routine, with no time for flowers.

And You were there, too.

PRINCES OF PEACE

Lord Jesus, how the world needs the brotherly love you spoke about!

But Lord, I feel helpless, not just at changing the feuding world.

There is a sibling rivalry in my children I seem equally powerless to stop.

Help me be an agent of your peace, Prince of Peace.

Dec. 10, 2001

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LARRY’S SONG

Between the sorrows

In places you’re ashamed

Love can’t be blamed.

Between tomorrow and

Places like today

Love will find a way.

Between the burdens

In places filled with grief

Love can bring relief.

Between the shadows

In places where there’s night

Love will bring the light.

Between the dollars

In places where there’s pay

Only love will find the way.

Between the questions

In places that are blurred

Love can be heard.

Between the flowers

In places tucked away

Butterflies play.

Between the joys

In places filled with pain

Love can clean the stain

Between two loves

In places that they touch

There is much.

Between ‘Bacoa

And places like Elk Grove

There is love.

Between forevers

Where everything’s enough

God is love.

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A Sonnet 491 Years After Columbus Sighted Land

Unwanted Sorrow called to me at sunset;

I closed my ears and bid it go away:

"To let you in won’t help me to forget;

Please leave and come another day!"

But soon thereafter sunset turned to dark

And sorrow seemed then not to be so bad.

"Better to have this Sorrow than this dark.

The dark is scary; Sorrow’s only sad."

This story’s oft repeated in this world

To fight the dark we substitute for light

With carnal things that keep distinctions blurred.

Yet hiding from the dark still brings us night.

It’s best right now to dwell awhile with Sorrow

Than put her off –increased! – until tomorrow.

Oct. 11, 1983

Escapades

they fall

gently

but to the kids it’s as the Fourth of July

the first flakes

they winter

slowly

like ice ages

blowing bitter cold, unpackable

they spring

quickly

thawing cabin fever

with snowballs

December 13, 1994 Gilson, IL Table of Contents

TREES

We're big!

We're small.

We're very tall.

Oh lumberjack man,

Please don't make us fall!

Instead invest yourself in light

And see if you can better this old tree;

It's not just wood alone – oh no! – "It's me!"

In wintry cold all warmth and cover is satisfying

But there is more to life than simply trying to stop crying.

So go for gold and decorate your life and mine: Let your heart shine!

The light you put on me will show the inner man in you's aglow

Show the world your truest self, don't hide it on a hidden shelf;

The life you save

May be your own

He died upon a tree

His love He's shown.

SYNAPSES

When the electricity is right

They communicate

But too often there are sparks and flutters

Transmission and reception are poor.

The equipment usually works poorly

It seems incapable of upgrade.

We are like these electrons.

Or are they like us?

They’re fuzzy and crackly

We step on toes trying to dance

I once picked up a station from China

But I just wish we could talk here at home.

October, 1997

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Psalms

CERTAIN DOUBT

I know you spoke to Abraham, Lord.

You heard Moses’ pleas and answered him.

Jesus, I know you listened to children laugh

Pharisees taunt, and

Disciples boast.

Why do I sometimes doubt that you listen to me?

Texas Twang

That Waco group sure was psycho

A bunch of kooks.

They really had a fixation with weapons and firepower.

The hierarchical nature of their organization sure was scary.

And that music they played, well that was just some weird stuff.

Yet they stuck together like glue with each other.

Some of them even went down to their death because of their wacko belief system.

Some say that they were an offshoot that became pretty darn independent.

Personally I think they should have been thrown in jail quite a while ago, carrying on the way they did.

They should have followed the principles of the mother body, but then the ATF doesn't seem to

like to have to honor the basic constraints of the US Constitution.

I mean, what else can you say about their burning, tear-gassing and sending tanks against a wooden compound with a whole lot of women and children?

Remember the Alamo! (And, with the ATF, forget about the Branch Davidians.)

James Madson 3-23-1994

Almost Paradise

I was searching for a place which was happy all the time

Where the birds would always sing and the sun would always shine

Where my friends were all around me, and my love held my hand

A place which, when I´d found I´d call my always-always land.

They say that there´s no sorrow

Near the surf of Nosara

And evermore on the morrow

In the streets of Samara

Had I found my ShangriLa in the jewel of Guanacaste?

Where the internationals come, from places so much faster?

Would my burdens roll away and my debts be vaporized?

Would my pot of gold appear, would my talents all be prized?

They say that there´s no sorrow

Near the surf of Nosara

And evermore on the morrow

In the streets of Samara

In the rain of San Jose, where the insects bit my skin

A still, small always voice said, "Contentment is within."

Nosara, Costa Rica

June 11, 2004

El Valle and Beyond

We traveled once where the wild winds blow

Where the mountains rise and the valleys grow

Where the Kunes and Nicas and Ticas dwell

Where volcanoes bluff and surf casts its spell

With Lisa and Lina, the world around

With Lisa and Lina, from town to town

With Lisa and Lina, gospel bound

While sloth and toucan eluded our eyes

We captured the monkeys in tree-woven skies

As longings for turtles the river denies

We jumped in the current at jaguar’s cries

With Lisa and Lina, the world around

With Lisa and Lina, from town to town

With Lisa and Lina, gospel bound

Through off season closings and broken down pools

Our Muse handed down serendipitous rules

Which opened adventures, now memory’s jewels

And, we, unashamed, were His willing fools.

With Lisa and Lina, the world around

With Lisa and Lina, from town to town

With Lisa and Lina, homeward bound

El Valle, Panama 6-17-04

Accomplishment

We think

We do

At least we think we do

Hands engaged

Feet whirling

Mouth flapping

Production

Construction

In the flurry

In the scurry

In the hurry

Of it all

We thought

We did

We conquered?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

See the dust in the wind?

Look again, with no scurry...

Do you see my face?

(He has risen from the dust)

June 7, 2002 Streamwood, IL

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Only Once

Only once did I have a chance to live today

Only once, now gone away

Did I make a mistake to not question you

When I really wanted to?

I stuck to business

That was safe

I think I lost

This human race.

Tomorrow is another day

But it will come just once

And when it does will I have learned

What today made me a dunce?

April 21, 2000

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POWERFUL PLAN

Wow were those guys smart

Taking on the Twin Towers

And totally destroying them, as enemies

They came here from all the way there

Instead of using their own stuff

Used ours instead

What they did is now evident for all to see

Those Twin Towers will never rise again

Wow were those guys smart

Planning it long ago

Pulling it off without a hitch

What daring!

Giving their own life for the cause

So that the Twins would be no more

Wow were those guys smart

Yeah, the Father and Son destroyed

The Twin Towers of Death and Hell

Forever

Using our flesh

Let's retaliate with love and joy

Wow were those guys smart

Hallelujah!

9-19-01

Serial Killer

Walking, stalking, never stopping

Horror is its berth

A murderer without restraint

Spreads death throughout the earth

Defenses fall, resistance weak

Can this foe be displaced?

In the light good homes are wrecked

And faultless lives disgraced.

Whose woods these are -- oh do you know?

Who kills with such great wealth?

Look not across to enemy lines

But look instead -- to self.