Truly Super

The superheroes in our culture run
amok among us normal heroes here,
but truth is better than our fiction fun,
for superheroes cannot fix our fear.

But there’s one superhero Who is real,
exciting with His supernatural powers,
Who truly cares about the pain we feel,
and for our fun creates a million flowers.

For sure we need His supernatural care
to conquer Satan, the archvillain true,
God gives us superpowerful grace and prayer
so we can be His superheroes too.

Through superaction love I choose for free,
Lord, lend more supernatural power to me.

                          -- by Pete Voelz       5/14/13

For Judgment Day

So who will stand with me on Judgment Day?
The parents that I honored in my life,
my brother, sister, children from my play,
the one who's always stood with me, my wife?

My closest friends, will they step up for me,
The ones I loved, the ones I left in tears,
the students that I judged, where will they be,
the people on my path down through the years?

Was Christ in all of these I loved and knew,
did I feed most myself or feed them all,
and Christ in needy strangers I helped too,
will He step up to help me when I call?

With Mary and my patron saints, I pray,
stand by me, faithful Lord, on Judgment Day.

                        -- by Pete Voelz        6/07

Meeting Karen

You are vast as the sea at twilight,
novel as a child just met,
expectant as a new day dawning,
I do not know you yet.

Like coming up over a mountain,
struck by a breathless view,
discovering, yet thinking still--
I do not know you.

Anticipating everything better,
like spring after the snow,
yet wondering what it's all about,
I do not know.

Awakening in me new desires
and old dreams I forgot,
yet know for sure what will come--
I do not.

Admiring so many things I learn,
exploring the world of you,
caring a little, hoping a lot--
I do.

Losing myself in this maze,
like a star lost in the sky,
wondering if you too discover as
I.

     -- by Pete Voelz     April, 1971

(the week after we met, four
months before we married)

Happy Mother’s Day

Open My Heart

Let me knock down all obstacles to You,
for can I have an open heart in part?
How do I know my openness is true,
how can I have a truly open heart?

Open--my heart must be to let You in,
but what if I keep fences in the way,
mostly offenses that amount to sin?
And once in, I must fight to have You stay.

One obstacle is that I am afraid
I’ll let You in too much and lose control,
for I forget my mind and heart You made,
I want to give what they make up--my soul.

True openness means my heart is free of
the obstacles that would fence out Your love.

                      -- by Pete Voelz       5/10/13

Your Ave

I pray “Hail Mary” and, O Mary, when
your hear these words, you feel a surge of pleasure
to listen to the angel’s song again,
and know once more your memorable joy full measure.

It is as if there’s only you and I,
who share the import of sweet Gabriel’s voice,
then gaze in wonder at the azure sky,
after your “fiat” to your awesome choice.

How privileged I to call you “full of grace,”
how honored, to say with you is the Lord,
in this prayer just we two are face-to-face,
and with my words you’re anything but bored.

As I relive the moment in my mind,
from heaven you bend to see our souls combined.

                                        -- by Pete Voelz       5/9/13
pmvoelz.blogspot.com

Your Presence

The book I need to read is face-to-face,
the space I want for mine is here and now,
the tube I play for you is my embrace,
my IM kiss I save to grace your brow.

The transitory things that soon have passed,
the endless games for mere frivolity,
the trivia and fun that will not last,
there they all are to keep you far from me.

The twitter I can hear is for the birds,
the cells I care about are all your own,
my text comes to your ear in whispered words,
my social nets would not leave you alone.

Instead of tech, your face I'd love to touch,
in person you, is that asking too much?

                      -- by Pete Voelz       9/10

Prayer Space

I find that I must make some space to pray,
I’m busy, my time’s at a premium,
besides I often don’t know what to say,
except “Our Father” and “Thy Kingdom come.”

If I can’t find time, I have to take time,
and prayer must be more than just words by rote,
it’s conversation with Someone sublime,
when sometimes words get stuck within my throat.

Who seeks someone to see inside their soul?
And to face God, I have to first face me,
to pray well I must give God some control,
He might make me review my destiny.

It may not be the space of time I need,
but power for my soul I can’t concede.

                        -- by Pete Voelz       5/8/13
pmvoelz.blogspot.com