Subj : [CHRISTIA] new poetry, "Not Quite an Hour" To : Practical Christian Life From : Mark Date : Sun Jun 14 2020 12:57:45 From: lamppoet@CENTURYTEL.NET (Mark) A friend, some memories, a hope. "Not Quite an Hour" ("When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, 'Come, everything is now ready.'" Luke 16:17) I had hoped to find you there, maybe in a corner, sitting with no one, and catching up on every done, every right and wrong. We would laugh at our serious adolescence, condole upon our misshapen dreams, wonder at wisdom that left our coffee bitter, some friendships, and some others, that started to the letter and ended not answering the phone. You would tell me of your husband's passing, the one love you found that took all of you, the full of you, and befriended the broken heart you had finally come to understand. But he was older, 15 years or more; but he was stronger than the teenage crushes, more settled than the bad boys who usher in adulthood like a customized playground. It would be not quite an hour of soft words, and the first tear forms. The water rest, a captured bubble, filling in your lower eyelid, and like me, like you, like many others, you do not blink, for as soon as you do, it will break the surface tension with the heavy tear dropping from the icicle warming and settling like a mountaineer upon the crest of your cheek; the frame of a face that denies forgetting. I would mention my loves, remember time in 80 or 81 we heard Terry Talbot sing his ballads to Jesus. You never flushed nor squirmed and even joined our hands as pray floated from the gymnasium floor to the ear of the Father. And, perhaps a God who calls himself Father was the chief hurdle for your faith. All I know, you were always gracious when at 19 I opened a can of "Four Spiritual Laws" and spoon-fed it to you without any thought of even heating it up. But here we are, and I hope, when the dinner bell is rung, we might meet you again, we might laugh as silly old friends, mention our upcoming hip replacements and European vacations; and, with 30 years since placing eyes on each other, 20 years since hearing as voice, we might be content to skim the surface, yet comfortable to open the curtain of our backstage lives, with nothing to lose and so little time. Meet me at the banquet, sit beside me at the table, I expect to have a day full of errands, but would rather break bread with a friend. Expecting, mark p. lamppoet@centurytel.net Mark's Blog (to be removed from the list, simply reply with the request: "Please remove". God's best!) For subscription information, visit To leave the list, send the command UNSUB CHRISTIA to LISTSERV@LISTS.ASU.EDU --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .