REAL COLD DAY

She walked a winter's day and--well?

‘Twas a real cold day in Hell,

For all around were shattered dreams

Like shards of ice from frozen streams

Where once flowed life’s eternal spring—

Forever dies, a fragile thing.

"Jesus loves me,” and she’d know"

That He walks where ere she'd go

And lo!  upon horizon's brow,

That wrinkled line twixt then and now,

Hope from God that now dim light

Will one day shine so full and bright,

But she knows, not, how it’ll be

One tiny candle lights a sea;

All she needs is faith to stand

On bedrock of The Father's land.

                       --Monty Wheeler

I AM, HE CRIED BEFORE HE DIED

I am a child of God and son of man;
I wonder at God’s will and greater plan;
I hear “Amazing Grace” in angels’ choir;
I see the depths of Hell and Satan’s fire;
I want salvation; that’s my sweet desire;
I am a child of God and son of man.

I pretend that Jesus comes each day;
I feel He’s here with me in every way:
I touch the Lamb’s red blood that spilled for me;
I worry I’m got good enough, you see;
I cry at how He died for my dark sin;
I am a child of God and son of man.

I understand that God forgives.  Can I?
I say my daily prayers to God on High;
I dream of afterlife’s eternal span;
I try to live life pleasing to His eye;
I hope; therefore, I am, I loudly cry;
I am a child of God and son of man.

                         --Monty Wheeler

THE DARK VALLEY

Yea, I walk through The Valley of the Shadow
With burning foot upon the hostile land,
A traveler protected by God’s hand,
I keep my eye on God’s eternal meadow.

Those times I feel so lost and God-forsaken
Surrounded by the blazing fires of Hell
That sweet temptation’s bellows tend so well,
My faith feels weak, so easily shaken.

Yea, I walk through The Valley of Despair,
Where stalks the devil’s beast that would consume
What Jesus grants in rising from that tomb;
I know my God walks always with me there.

I keep my eye upon my God’s green meadow,
Firm in my conviction Jesus saves.
He’ll release the devil’s sin-bound slaves
And walk with me through valleys of The Shadow.

God’s promise that He’ll walk that path with me,
Then carry me when I would balk in fear,
Consoles when I would salt the land with tear;
He is The Way, The Truth, The Light I see.

Yea, I walk through The Valley of the Shadow,
I walk toward God’s promise of green meadow.

                                  --Monty Wheeler

RELEASE

I walked away with want to pray,
And fear raced through my heart;
And verily,
I say to thee,
The fear raced through my heart.

No way could tears tear me apart
where others might well see;
Give me a place—
A private space—
For others should not see.

But God will deal with me and sin;
I’ll pray in dark disgrace.
The good folk say.
There comes the day,
I’ll pray in dark disgrace.

If peace would come, let God begin
To let me cry that way.
Ask Him impart
His grace to start
A let me cry that way

            --Monty Wheeler

*The Roundabout is a four stanza poem, with each stanza consisting of 5 lines. The poem is written in iambic and the lines have 4 feet, 3 feet, 2 feet, 2 feet and 3 feet respectively. The rhyme scheme is aBccB/bCddC/cDaaD/dAbbA. Roundabouts can be on any subject*

HE HEARS

*simple yes?  but simple no.  as short form poetry will go*

I pray
With faith He hears
This day.

Believe
The Father’s grace
Shan’t leave

I ask
What He would have—
My task.

         --Monty Wheeler

The Musette, created by Emily Romano is a poem that consists of three verses of three lines each. The first lines have two syllables; the second lines have four syllables, and the third lines have two syllables. The rhyme scheme is a/b/a for the first verse; c/d/c for the second verse, and e/f/e for the third verse. The title should reflect the poem’s content.

BONDS

What bonds mankind to animal
But perfect love that none might break,
Two unlike creatures’ hearts can make
A kinship more than bestial.

Perchance that perfect love between
Two beings not of like and kind
Transcends the logic of the mind
And ere remains pure white—pristine.

So might that beast mankind would love
Wish how much like man he’d be?

And I would wish the same, you see,
When I would look Toward God above.
I would be the four-pawed beast
With gaze upon my master’s face;
Beside God’s throne I’d find my place,
And in my eyes, He’d read, “I’m blessed.”

My God, I pray, grant me that bond,
Imperfect creature that I am,
Through Jesus Christ, The Holy Lamb
Take me to what will lie beyond.

                     --Monty Wheeler

NE'ER TO LET GO

She walks upon a midnight dreary, as
Lost spirits wail in tortured agony,
And join in waiting; yes, The Reaper has
Captured all her hope’s ability.
There’d been a time when none would dare, you see,
To challenge her strong faith in God and prayer,
But life’s dark turns led to apostasy
As, slow, she drifted from His love and care.
She wishes on a star and in night’s air
Asks God to claim or send her soul to Hell;
How tired she’s grown of life’s hard wear and tear.
But that small, still voice says He still loves her well,
Even though from God she’d been away,
She knows He holds for her another day.