Having a Big Cry

Just when I thought I’d sink no lower

I sunk further still, down, down under

I plunged helplessly, full of fear.

Forgive me for chalking it up on You.

I forgot that though I have no clue,

You know everything. I just have to trust You.

Please, constantly remind me that the best

Is yet to come. Let me quietly rest

In the knowledge that Your plans are good,

And what I’ve to do is to trust You, as I should.

Let me look at things the way Joseph did,

When in the dungeon his heart did bleed—

He saw hope and had faith still

And he let You do Your will.

Despite the misery, he praised Your name.

Help me, Lord, to do the same.

Let me have the eyes of Job: a man

Who kept faith even when troubles began.

Suffering a parent’s cruelest fate,

His faith hadn’t wavered; praises did emanate

From the lips that cried in agony, a praise for You alone.

Lord, help me be in that tone.

That even when my nadir’s here—

I can praise your name with cheer.

A Poem on a Sunday Afternoon

to Summer, Vince and Miggy

VINCE GABRIEL. Photo from Glaiza Mae Franco-Sambat

I have walked for almost a score,

Gained and lost things now and then.

Now, looking at you, I plead earnestly—

Help restore a childlike life in me.

Help me stay open to your child’s wisdom,

To breathe and live, despite boredom.

Help me stay firm, and with your innocence,

STEVEN MIGUEL. Photo from Tatum Grace Lopez-Manzano

That I may always be grounded, to see sense.

Help me, please, to let you take my hand.

Remind me that life is not always grand,

That I must fall in order to rise and plod on—

Like when you took your first steps and walked on.

SUMMER GAEL. Photo from Michael Angelo Maga-ao

Help me stick to truth when I am most tempted to fib.               

Help me keep my peace at the peak of Anger’s glib.

Help me hold my tongue, when I am tempted to speak,

To keep calm, to pray, to trust, when hope is very bleak.