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Is there anything more gorgeous than a human being rising, greeting their own soul again after the distance nearly tore them apart?  

-Rhia Clay
Fire

There is a fire inside my soul,  
with flames dancing beneath my skin, casting shadows against my cheeks.  
I feel my spirit rise after enduring so much.  
I sense the fire lingering, along with the sun and the life springing forth from my lungs.  
And you, God, you draw me into your depths, reminding me of who I am,  
and that I am not finished yet.  
This world has tried to bury me with its furious fists and powerful hands,  
and yet, here I stand.

-Rhia Clay
Kenshō May 3
Bloom is in season.
The birds sing for a reason.

The river's motion
Seems to have a notion
For every rock around the bend.

Mushrooms are smiling a tinge.

Not a thing is strange.
Infinity has no range.

Take a token.
The thing left unspoken:
What He thinks of Hymn.

The fields of time melt beneath my feet
And the rain is slightly sweet.

Dew of the divine drops
And gains back again.

Time is a loop of sorts,
Everything ends where it begins again.

Eternity is a moment
And it never ended again.

You know every drop ascends in

The End

Again.
Perhaps the mountain sings
in centuries, a slow vibration,
a secret rhythm, the grain of its face
etched with the scars of knowing
a melody caught in the depths of time.

Perhaps the river knows
the path it carves, it chisels the stone,
its fingers shape clay, the way it carries
the sky in its restless hands
as an endless refrain toward the sea.

Perhaps the old tree feels
the breath of wind, a warm morning dew,
its earthen embrace, the weight of autumn
pressing on its weathered leaves
in quiet witness to the season’s tune.

And what of us,
woven from dust that once knew the stars–
who feel, who think, who sing–
our lives shimmering like heat above the road,
do we carry the old tree’s tune?
The river’s refrain?
The mountain’s melody?

Listen.
The silence is singing.
Lightning tongue
Brother tree
Strike the dirt
Breaking free

Roots emerge
Like a snake
Snap like cords
Crack the lake

Speak sword-tongue
Cut me loose
Catch me with
Holy noose

Let me not
Plead, "Away"
YHWH God
Lord, please stay

Earthy tongue
Gentle words
Friendship won
Nesting birds

Turn about
Long ago
What's that sound?
I don't know

Dove wing tongue
Remind me
Of all that
Love spoke He

Calm me down
Know my groan
Report back
Glowing stone

Let me speak
Orphan tongue
Granting me
Only lungs
Solely You
A series of images that are striking to me.
Daniel Tucker Jan 2017
When a mountain
   I dare not climb
the ropes and tackles  
  are in abundance

In great shape
  my body and mind
Not a weak link
in the expedition

But when a mountain
  I dare to climb
the ropes and tackles
  are often misplaced

Out of shape
  my body and mind
Weakness as a
  spell does bind

Hopes and dreams
  of tireless youth can
be all but forgotten
  in the spiritually aged

Strength   the glittering
  cloak of youth can
fade in weakening
  jaded resolve

But in me common
  traits dissolve
The bucking steed
  will never be tamed

Pigeon-holed the
  misfortune of other
souls   has not been
  allowed by my resolve

But this determination
  is not without cost
The foothills of youth
  are far removed

by erosion caused by
  unstable belief systems
washed away into
  the Sea of Ambiguity

A distant mountain
  I often see
(distance   the deceiver
  of proportion)

Challenged at the foot
  of the formidable sight
halfway climbing
  only to slip and fall

Does this mountain
  need to be climbed
Do youthful dreams
  need to be fulfilled

When these dreams
  are all you ever had
you wake up falling
  or climbing higher

Driven by dreams
  and gifts and talents
that rage like a river
  in the driest desert

calling home what
  must come home
holding on to what
  must be fulfilled

Obstacles that have
  become landmarks
seem to fade
   into obscurity

like threats that
  always remain empty
laughing at what
  used to bring tears

I remain standing
  through all these trials
not unscathed
  and a bit weather beaten

halfway up another
  formidable mountain
making up for lost time
  from a major fall.
© 2017 Daniel Tucker

A poem from the living of my life.
When a mountain
   I dare not climb
the ropes and tackles  
  are in abundance

In great shape
  my body and mind
Not a weak link
  in the expedition

But when a mountain
  I dare to climb
the ropes and tackles
  are often misplaced

Out of shape
  my body and mind
Weakness as a
  spell does bind

Hopes and dreams
  of tireless youth can
be all but forgotten
  in the spiritually aged

Strength   the glittering
  cloak of youth can
fade in weakening
  jaded resolve

But in me common
  traits dissolve
The bucking steed
  will never be tamed

Pigeon-holed the
  misfortune of other
souls   has not been
  allowed by my resolve

But this determination
  is not without cost
The foothills of youth
  are far removed

by erosion caused by
  unstable belief systems
washed away into
  the Sea of Ambiguity

A distant mountain
  I often see
(distance   the deceiver
  of proportion)

Challenged at the foot
  of the formidable sight
halfway climbing
  only to slip and fall

Does this mountain
  need to be climbed
Do youthful dreams
  need to be fulfilled

When these dreams
  are all you ever had
you wake up falling
  or climbing higher

Driven by dreams
  and gifts and talents
that rage like a river
  in the driest desert

calling home what
  must come home
holding on to what
  must be fulfilled

Obstacles that have
  become landmarks
seem to fade
   into obscurity

like threats that
  always remain empty
laughing at what
  used to bring tears

I remain standing
  through all these trials
not unscathed
  and a bit weather beaten

halfway up another
  formidable mountain
making up for lost time
  from a major fall.
© 2025 Daniel Tucker
Vitæ Mar 26
Lightning lives
between your fingers,
flashing silver inside
a handful of night

suturing blood
with exigence
through a needle’s eye,

with one hand kissed
by a shower of shrapnel
and the other twisted
in an infinite thread

tunneling light with
sublime precision.

Your needle
closes each gap open
with the cloth of Love
being woven

and each gap closed
holds me in this
lancinating tension,

as I slumber deep  
in the currents of
your halcyon arms,

this world remains
tender and unbroken.
“There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.” ― Bram Stoker, Dracula
Seth Cruz Mar 9
A spark within me
as I arise and go forth.
Once more God sends me.
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