Return of the Martyrs
Among Those Who Serve the Prince of Peace
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Excerpt 1
LAYER ON LAYER CONFUSION
The Spirit disclosed a window
That glowed as brightly as the sun.
And in its space
I saw a face
That was ancient,
With look of wisdom, authority
And gentleness that seemed divine.
But quickly a rash of others
Rose upward as a covering—
Faces of anger
Their looks distorted
By strong desires—
So as I sought to recall the first
Its memory had been erased.
As if to deny forever
To the soul’s cries a clear answer,
A cloud arose
A swirl of dust
Hiding the sun—
Layer on layer confusion
As each new age created its gods—
Until God comes
To us again.
“Thrones were cast down and the
ancient of days did sit” Daniel 7:9
Excerpt 2
THE CHILL WILDERNESS
Through the thin ice at the rapids
Two children fell, grasping, struggling
Drawn by the rushing, chilling waters
Till they swept beneath the ice.
Rolling in chambers of cold
They gulped the fatal paralysis.
The grieving crawled upon the surface
Searching frosted glass for a glimpse
Of their dark forms, though knowing inches
Would be an eternity away.
Not unlike that cold casement
Is the touch of a child to parents
Who day by day grows distant
And finally slips from their embrace.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
These poems describe the character, trials, and faith of the neighborhood churches that deeply affected the lives of children, teenagers, and adults on the American scene. The changing experience is described in poems on the Beatitudes and American life as parents unknowingly invite strangers into their homes who instill the secular views of television, the Internet, and public school text books. The sheer weight of indoctrination dismisses the Spiritual from childhood experience and conviction.
The book concludes with the trials of the martyrs who pursued the poet throughout his life. They were not then known to him by name or story, save in spiritual experiences. Lately he fully learned their identity as the founders of Christian schools for children in
The book ends with a tribute to those martyrs who died before a weeping nation—the heroes of the
About the Author
Protesting that it is unnatural and detrimental to remove the spiritual from public expression, the author presents poetry of spiritual experience. Human experience needs to be shared without suppression. Society will fail without man’s total faculties and the perception of divine guidance. Poetry lacking the spiritual is like art lacking the play of light. The spiritual is essential to the communication of human experience. Its absence reduces the poem to a truncated or aberrant form unworthy of one’s attention. Poetry deprived of awe falters.
The author has dealt with countless people in these matters, has received four academic degrees, and considers the inner voice important. His primary concern is the weakening of the spiritual voice in the individual person, church, and society.