A Long Walk With God - Paul Curtis (books to read for 13 year olds .TXT) 📗

A PASSING SOUL

Unflinching faith is much admired
To pass with dignity is what’s desired
Slipping quietly away in to the light
And with passed loved ones, reunite
Let slip the earthly bonds, external
And embrace the love of god eternal

FOR ANNA

The babe angelically reposed
Cherubic and smartly clothed
Apparent parental joy and pride
God parents standing side by side
As all around the font arrayed
With love and harmony displayed
And when the spoken words allow
The holy waters cross her brow
Then after the ritual is satisfied
Anna, in Christ’s family is baptized


IF I REALLY HAVE TO GO

If I really have to go, as they say that I must
Into the keeping of God, my soul I’ll trust
If I really have to go, I won’t mind so much
Accompanied by angels, God’s hand I’ll touch
It’s not the going so much, as the manner I mind
If blessed with faith, you’re to the end resigned
It would be hard to bear, cut down by a stroke
Unable to move, paralyzed with my body broke
Facing living death consumed by cancer’s hand
Slow death seeping from every pore and gland
The brain slowly degenerating with Parkinson’s
Or the nervous system lost to Huntington’s
The grains of sand run through the hourglass
Wracked with pain and agony before you pass
Better for all when hearing the reaper creep
To close your eyes and pass within your sleep


RCS V RHS

A surgeon was in deep discussion with a horticulturist
On whether or not the immortal soul does actually exist
The medic began “I have been a surgeon for many a year
And after many operations I would like to make it clear
After having cut every consievable part of a human being
I can say without doubt that I don’t remember ever seeing
Or finding anything that you could possibly ever compare
To an immortal soul within the human body anywhere”
The horticulturist then responded to him in this form
Saying “If I were to cut into a flower bulb, tuber or corm
I would not be able to see any sign of a flower anywhere
But we both know a beautiful flower dwells within there”


BANG

Bang!
Isn’t that how it all began?
Scientists tell us so
Like the gospels
Darwin’s disciples preach it
Talking of the creation myth
And the big bang theory
As if a theory has more weight
Than a myth
God didn’t create the universe
They say
But science with its big bang
I find it hard to believe
It cannot be so
Science cannot create a world
Or a universe
They can only end it
With a big bang
Science will ultimately destroy
What they play with life like a toy
They try to play god
With their own creations
Science gave us gun powder
Nuclear weaponry
Choking carbon monoxide
Acid rain
Holes in the ozone layer
I believe in the creation
And the creator
God created us all
With all our faults and frailties
And god gave us great abilities
But he also gave us reason
And the common good sense when not to use them
Just because we can do something
Doesn’t mean that we should
I believe god created a world to love
But if it all began
With that big bang
And nothing existed
Before that moment
Who lit the match?
Who pressed the button?
Who flicked the switch?
That caused the explosion
The bang
The ignition of life
In all its forms
Perhaps we are an experiment
In some cosmic crucible
Or the universe is contained
Within a dirty goldfish bowl
Whose water could imminently be refreshed?
It doesn’t really matter
How it started
Either by the creation myth
Or the big bang theory
The argument is like the universe
A question of balance
Good and bad
Great and small
Searing heat and freezing cold
High and low
There has to be an opposite
To give credence to either
All I know of the universe
The world
This life
Is its very special
Very precious
And finite
Which begs another question?
How will it end?
Will it be with a
Bang!


LET HIM IN

Let god within your heart
Fill the void of darkness
Filled with love and joy
Let his love envelope
Your being
Let him bring light
Where dark once dwelt
Let him bring love
Where hate once ruled
Let him bring happiness
Where sadness held dominion


I AM

I am the gentle warmth
Of a soft spring day
I am the sunlight
Glinting on the morning dew
I am the summer breeze
In a field of ripened corn
I am the aromatic air
Of a summer night
I am the autumn wind
Stripping bare the trees
I am the howling wind
In the teeth of a gale
I am the biting sting
Of icy rain and sleet
I am the silence
In the softly falling snow
I am silent
And invisible in the mists
I am the storm and tempest
I am the peace and quiet
I am the green man
I am the green goddess
I am the mother
I am the Father

DARWINS DESIGN

There is, today, a fierce debate
Well in America at any rate
Darwinism is again causing friction
Some claim his work to be a fiction
And his “Origin of the Species”
Is likened to a pile of fetid faeces
Fossil evidence has caused the strife
Showing Random explosions of life
Evolution was not a gradual change
Thoughts we now must rearrange
Its not at all as Charles Darwin said
But Intelligent Design instead


IF NOT

If not the lord
Then what?
Raiki?
Yoga?
Or feng shui
Worshiping the elements
The sun and the moon
A return to chaos
Pagan times
Before the fisher of men
Cast his net

If not our lord
Then who?
What idol?
What fad or fashion
Plastic surgeons
The new gods
De-toxing
And colonic irrigation
Or wannabee’s
Worshiping celebrity
At the alter of fame

If not the Christ
Then what?
Loss of faith
Loss of belief
But they don’t stop believing
Because they have a need
A desperate need
To believe in something
So they believe
In everything and anything
Except the risen Christ


DEAR LORD PROTECT

Dear lord protect
The soldiers on the line
And grapes upon the vine
The policemen on the beat
The homeless on the street
The elderly and the frail
The Transgressors in the jail
The young and the vulnerable
The well off and comfortable
Fire fighters at their station
Carers with their dedication
The judiciary and the medics
The believers and the sceptics
Those in planes and boats and cars
The planets and the stars
Crops growing in the soil
Those hard about their toil
The river, the lake and the dam
The lion the wolf and the lamb
The animals on the farm
Protect them Lord from harm


KING OF LOVE

The king of kings lord in heaven above
Holds the power in His kingdom of love
Not love of power but the power of love


HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO

A hero, a myth a legend
An idea? A tale or fable
With a grain of truth
And come the time
He will be there
At the right time
To rescue us all
What hero?
A name gently whispered on the breeze
Or shouted on the wind
Arthur? Robin? Horatio?
Heroes all
Our real hero, neither myth or legend
Not an idea or tale or fable
But is the truth
And come the time
He will be there
At the right time
To rescue us from ourselves
A name gently whispered in reverence
And shouted in rejoicing
A name embedded in our souls
Our lord god

HE IS

He is the earth
The wind and the fire
He is the sun
That rises in the east
And sets in the west
He is the tree in bud
And the mare in foal
He is the rain that gently falls
He is the birdsong
And the cockcrow
He is the staff of life
He is the Son of God
The prince of peace


THERE

You are there
When I face adversity
And in times of conflict
When I encounter trajedy or loss
You are there
When I experience joy
And at times of happiness
When I feel pride and count my blessings
You were there
When my children entered the world
And at their baptisms
When they married and when loved ones passed
You are always there
Dear lord


PRAYER

I pray to my god
When my heart is full
And when it is empty
When I just need to speak
And when I need an answer
When I have joy to share
And when at my lowest
I pray to my god
Who always listens?

JOURNEY

I have left you now my love
To make my final journey
Don’t break your heart
Don’t grieve for losing me
Remember all the good times
When we were young and free
Speak your prayers aloud
In fond remembrance of me
And when your journey is made
I will be the first one you see

IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS

If I am the first to go
I will wait for you in the place
Where the crowns of Angels glow

If I go first because I lost the fight
I will be waiting with the Father
Where the tunnel opens into light

If I am the first one there
I will await you in lush meadows
Where heady perfume fills the air

If I go first and leave you lonely
We will meet again in paradise
In our loved ones company

If I am the first to go, allay your fears
I will be waiting in the place
Where there are no more tears


If I go before you and we must part
I will wait for you in heaven
Where sweet music soothes the heart

If I am first to go we will meet again
In a far better place than this
Where God has banished pain

If I go first through the eternal door
You will find me with the angels
Where suffering is no more

If I am first to go by days or years
You will find me waiting there
Far beyond this vale of tears


LOOK ON US WITH LOVE
(Sung to the tune of the traditional German folk song “Kinderlied”)

Oh my lord way above
God in heaven, king of love
Please look down, from your throne
Look on us with love.

God of gods, king of kings
God in heaven where angels sing
Oh my lord, Way above
Look on us with love

Oh my lord bless our lives
Christ the saviour guiding light
Please look down, from your throne
Bless us with your light

God of gods, king of kings
God in heaven where angels sing
Oh my lord, Way above
Look on us with love

Oh my lord fill our hearts
Up in heaven where love starts
Please look down, from your throne
Please lord fill our hearts.

God of gods, king