Simple– A Poem

SIMPLE

A simple truth
A simple fact
A simple compromise
A simple act.

A simple person
A simple face
A simply following
A simple grace.

A simple recipe
A simple word
A simple surrender
Is that absurd?

Is life that simple
The path so clear,
The way so plain
To pain and fear?

Are ethics obvious
God’s face so bright
That it is evident,
What’s day or night?

What of the tragedies
When innocents die
What of the times
We fail to try?

We glimpse the glory
But smell the fire
We know the horrors
What of desire?

What do we hope for,
A simple end?
A mad escape?
Some sudden Godsend?

But life’s not simple
No easy path
Between dark and light
Between grace and wrath

More like the Trinity
It’s quite complex
Sometimes a blessing
But it can vex.

In God’s image
We are not like glass,
You can’t see through us,
Or look right past.

Meant to be mirrors
Of what is right
We are but prisms
Diffusing light.

We fall into shadow,
Our heart’s turn weak
We wander in wilderness
Our choices bleak.

‘If only it were simple’,
We all cry out,
But faith is not sight,
Not life with no doubt.

Perhaps we are called
To a knowing belief
A reasonable trust,
In joy and in grief.

As things turn out
We are not called
To a simpleton’s faith
Or blind trust at all.

Assurance is one thing
Guarantee another
He keeps his promises
You keep your brother.

Simple faith
Is not naivete
It is faith seeking answers
Every single day.

April 8 2017 BW3 As we begin our 41rst year of marriage