Ever-Present Sign

Upon my wall it hangs, on it You hang,
Your neck bore it to here, Your albatross,
each glance I cast upon it brings a pang,
Your ever-present Crucifixion cross.

Your suffering casts perspective on my own,
I need it when my faith is on the wane,
knowing You’re there, I can’t leave You alone,
with ever-present Crucifixion pain.

“Beloved Son,” I hear Your Father’s voice,
Your Holy Spirit hovers like a dove,
I see what saves me makes my heart rejoice,
Your ever-present Crucifixion love.

Hangs on my neck Your sign of victory,
You ever-present, crucified for me.

                    by Pete Voelz     9/16/14

True Love in Every line

True love does not just make the world go ‘round,
God makes the world go ‘round, for God is love,
love makes no sense--no scent, no scene, no sound,
for love supplies the soul what souls dream of.

Though it’s unseen, love can inspire desire,
though it is felt, love’s not for how we feel,
love draws us to the higher we aspire,
for real, love does require the God appeal.

Love overflows, it grows the more we share,
love turns an enemy into a brother,
love’s not for us, it dares because we care,
true love must be directed to the other.

So let’s not kid ourselves, love’s understood--
not bad nor brief, love is, like God, for good.

                        by Pete Voelz     9/26/14

God's Habits

God doesn’t change much, He’s a God of habits,
He’s quite creative and likes making things,
like robins, ribeyes, and especially rabbits,
and lots more common folk than queens or kings.

When things went wrong, God showed His habit to save,
He loves to use His mercy to forgive,
He dies to prove His habit to be brave
and save from death the ones He wants to live.

Of all His habits, the greatest is to love,
that’s why He made the stars and human race,
came down to be a man from heaven above,
when we repent, to shower us with grace.

The habit I’m most curious to see
is how He’ll spend eternity with me.

                      by Pete Voelz     9/25/14

In No Denial

9/24/14
Your servants say in Your love I’m awashed,
that You flood me with infinite love and grace,
Your burden’s light, and so I am not squashed,
though I cannot deny You’re in my face.

No way, God, are You only far away,
You want the all of me, not just a part,
and once invited in, You mean to stay,
I can’t deny to let You in my heart.

Awash with love, You too get in my hair,
thus, bold and brave, I cede You some control,
I can’t deny the sin I see is there
when I allow Your entry in my soul.

With courage, Lord, help me not be afraid,
someday I won’t deny I’m glad You stayed.

                      by Pete Voelz     9/24/14

Two Fowls

(Dedicated to a friend who is devoted to the Holy Spirit.)

St. Peter warns Satan’s like some foul lion,
who prowls the world for souls he might devour,
but he is not the only fowl who’s tryin’
to capture souls by using spiritual power.

The other fowl is just a little bird,
with coat of white and speed of light, a dove,
the Spirit of the Father and the Word,
Who seeks our restless souls with cooing love.

The first makes bad things look good in disguise,
the next prompts us with whispering breeze and grace,
Christ calls the lying lion the “Father of lies,”
their deadly race takes place in spiritual space.

This serious fight we duel with prayer and sword,
and with devotion to our Spirit Lord.

by Pete Voelz     9/20/14

The Car Ballet

 The Car Ballet  --  9/20/14
(My favorite poem of all) --

My son and I were five years old
when we met at a car ballet;
the street we rolled was a carpet gold
for the auto play-by-play.

I had never seen this boy before
when our rendezvous began;
he was crouched on the floor as I stepped in the door,
so I knelt down beside a sedan.

It followed his car as if by design,
and his squealed without surprise,
but he checked the whine when his glance met mine
with a curious look in his eyes.

His car was a little red tin Ford,
mine a green Chevrolet;
his screeched and roared at a high-pitched chord
when my growl warned his car away.

His crashed on the ground and flew through the air
while mine meandered by;
he streaked with flair down a thoroughfare,
as I drove into the sky.

I was forty-six going on five
as my car swooped over a bridge,
but I was young and alive and I sure could drive
in that dim old orphanage.

We had left America far away,
my daughter, my wife and I,
to fly all day to a car ballet
across the bright Asian sky.

As we walked down the Bangkok boulevard
I suddenly just had to run,
and my heart beat hard as I raced through the yard
to see my adopted son.

He climbed atop an old divan
with his tin Ford tightly clutched,
and our two cars ran along man-to-man
'til our bumpers barely touched.

Then sped away to almost hide,
but before I could count to ten,
all mischiefied he pulled up aside,
and we bumped again and again.

His speedy car I could not outchase,
as the sun could not outshine
the grin on his face at the end of the race
when his eyes looked up into mine.

Oh, East is East and West is West
and never the twain shall meet,
except when you're five in overdrive,
two boys on a carpet street.

Yes, my son and I were five years old
when we met at a car ballet,
and that hour of gold has never grown cold
through our years of play-by-play.

                -- by Pete Voelz        1998

Prayer Enders

The sister said my Guardian Angel dear
woud finish any prayer I left undone,
a pious thought, though it was never clear
God blessed such prayers taught by a grade school nun.

I wondered who else prayed prayers left unended,
a Cloud of Witnesses, so says St. Paul,
made up of saints and angels I’ve befriended,
joins me in prayers and always is on call.

I sometimes count on my dear Mother Mary
to finish at days end my Rosary,
and take, no longer small and ordinary,
my ended prayers to Christ her Son for me.

Yet, Lord, let me not take advantage of
their pious little exercise of love.

                       by Pete Voelz     9/19/14