Sandra Heska King

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Groaning for Japan

March 17, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

Sun bursts through banks of rolling pink and laughs all gold.

Another dawn explodes with hope.

A day like any other, with plans and expectations.

I eat my oatmeal milked and sweet with slice of amber buttered.

Steaming tea in hand, I sit.

A crow catches draft and sails above corn stubble in bowl of blue.

Two geese fly tandem across the field.

A robin whistles from a branch, and pine boughs sway in breeze.

Red buds pop, and a lone wave of dirty snow spills from garden edge.

Music fills the air.

The land is alive.

And yet my heart is numb.

My spirit is subdued.

I cannot fathom.

Across the continent, across the ocean lies death and destruction.

Despair and desperation.

Power loosed from fractured earth, and hope swallowed by the sea.

Dreams crash in roiling black.

Pain and suffering, and still more fear.

Broken, bloated bodies.

Tattered hearts.

Cold and hungry souls.

Weeping on the rubble.

Lost.

Where are you?

Where are You?

Where is the music?

Water pours from sky.

Overwhelmed, I cannot cry.

And it does not seem right to laugh.

It seems wrong to delight in beauty.

Words fall hollow.

I groan for Japan.

Don’t let those who look to You in hope be discouraged by what they see.

May those who seek be found and find.

Rebuild the wrecked and bind the broken.

Pluck the pain.

Enfold the lonely.

For You are Hope itself.

And there is nowhere else to run.

Overwhelm the land with Your tsunami of grace and love and mercy.

And let the sun of hope rise again.

Groaning for Japan,**********

Dedicated to L.L. Barkat who encourages us

to express our hearts through the power of poetry.

**********

Question: How are you coping?

Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
~Psalm 69:1-3 (NIV)

And me? I pray.
God, it’s time for a break! God, answer in love!
Answer with your sure salvation!
~Psalm 69:13 (MSG)

Spilling these crumbs of pain with Emily

Linking late with Jason’s Warrior Poet Circle.


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Filed Under: poetry, stories and reflections

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    March 17, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    Sandra, thank you for sharing this. Pain finds a home in poetry. It has found a home in yours.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:23 am

      You are such a blessing.

  2. jasonS says

    March 17, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    Amazing how the beauty and the brokenness can exist simultaneously in this world. Either one can seem far away then come knocking on our door without warning. Definitely praying with you.

    Thanks Sandra.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:25 am

      Without warning. So true.

  3. Cindee Snider Re says

    March 17, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    Absolutely, heart-wrenchingly, painfully beautiful! A moment that needs to be shared with a waiting, watching world desperate for answers, for hope, for God.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:31 am

      Thank you, Cindee. He is our high tower.

  4. Joybird says

    March 17, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Answer with your sure salvation!

    I love this verse. In fact both the pictures and the progression of this poem remind me of a Psalm. Beginning with praise for the beauty of His works, turning to pain and petition, resolving in hope based on who He is and a deep request that He would bring all of who He is into what is painful.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:57 am

      Thanks, Joybird.

      “That He would bring all of who He is into what is painful.” I love that.

  5. Glynn says

    March 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    We’re all groaning, Sandra.

    Beautiful post.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:58 am

      Thank you, Glynn.

  6. laura says

    March 17, 2011 at 10:16 pm

    The Spirit interprets these groans and sighs…Only He knows what is required. Thank you for this, Sandra. Just beautiful.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:58 am

      And I’m grateful for that. Thanks, sweet friend.

  7. Louise says

    March 18, 2011 at 1:11 am

    And in the pain, there is Love. There is God. Waiting. Patiently to embrace us in pain and sorrow, joy and peace.

    Beautiful poem and photos.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 7:59 am

      Amen.

  8. Kim Cash Tate says

    March 18, 2011 at 8:49 am

    What a beautiful deeply felt post. The beauty of spring against the backdrop of despair in Japan is quite an irony. I don’t know what we would do with the trouble in this world if we didn’t have God to look to, to pray to, to groan to. Thank you for putting into words what we all feel.

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 9:39 am

      Kim, I treasure you. Thank you for coming by and taking the time to comment. I don’t know what we would do without Him either.

  9. deidra says

    March 18, 2011 at 10:04 am

    Somehow it’s the blackness of that water that haunts me. “Dreams crash in roiling black.”

    I know that God hears our groaning. I know He sees all of this and I know that God cares. And I wonder where – exactly – would we be without Him?

    • Sandra says

      March 18, 2011 at 10:24 am

      Lost. We would be lost without Him.

  10. imperfect prose says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    laughs all gold…

    while you weep, we are blessed by your heart-words, friend. this is one of the most beautiful poems i’ve read in awhile. and he is in it… his heart, his love for his people, is here. thank you.

  11. katdish says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Beautiful, Sandy. I can turn off the TV, but the images still come. It’s all so overwhelming.

  12. Anne Lang Bundy says

    March 18, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Lord, I add my “amen” to this prayer, and ask You to give us all the compassion to groan with the pain of others.

Trackbacks

  1. imperfect prose on thursdays: on learning joy - emily t. wierenga | emily t. wierenga says:
    January 3, 2014 at 12:45 am

    […] path of life43. patty44. happygirl45. David Dark46. Hope Whispers47. Cindy @ 12Tribes48. Rachel49. Sandra Heska King50. Bev51. Wandering On Purpose52. Linda53. Loni54. HisFireFly55. hope…laughter amid sorrow56. […]

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A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana A tale of two iguanas... I did not see the iguana in the background until I downloaded the photos. That, I believe, is the one that got caught in one of the openings in the neighbor's chain link fence. We tried in several (safe) ways to dislodge it without luck and could think of no other option but to leave it. Somehow it apparently dislodged itself. We also believe this is the pair that was getting into another neighbor's garden. We haven't seen either one since the last cold snap, so we are wondering if they survived. 
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