More old poetry - this was written while I was watching a lunar eclipse and listening to Sid Barrett-era Pink Floyd ...

ECLIPSE

Look at the moon and rejoice

You children of the Most High

Colors flying – corona is blue

The sky took a bite

Wound in its side

Dripping x-ray light

Like Jesus on the cross

Dripping blood and water

Fog on my glasses

Makes crystalline glow

ten miles wide

Blue to white – music to match

Sound pouring from speaker to moon

Digging through some old stuff, I found some attempts at poetry written back when I was in the Navy (84 - 93) - some of it is pretty dark, since time at sea could be hard, but an interesting look at that time in my life. I'll post some of them, but individually, with a few comments: often they make no sense without a bit of background.

This one was written while aboard ship, in the middle of the Indian Ocean - and they had decided to do a "Lobster and Steak" night for dinner. The lines had gotten quite long, and seemed to take forever - and when I finally got some food, the steak was still frozen in the center!

Impressions (Dinner at Sea)

Lobster & Steak makes two hour break

From boredom to boredom again

We’re standing on water – we sink or we swim

We’ve been here since I don’t know when

With Jimmie & Davey & Lee is here too

We stand in a permanent line

Maybe by midnight we’ll begin to move

And then we can sit down and dine

Will the food make us croak, or just make us choke

Or maybe collapse in a heap

My eyes start to close, the Lord only knows

If I’ll ever get any sleep

To smell it is frightening, to taste it enlightening

On methods of poisoning men

‘Cause it’s just the right shade to be Deadly Nightshade

Yet here we are eating again

If this ditty scares you, or maybe impairs you

From eating a nice quiet meal

Say us a short prayer while we’re floating out here

Lord willing, our stomachs will heal!

Two seemingly unrelated bits of information:
I served in the Navy for 8 years.
My wife loves owls.
Early last year, I saw a bit of news that - strangely enough - made a connection between the two!

Fod gets lost
Hiding in a strange place
Alone, afraid, shivering
Vibration and sound terrify
Surrounded by the unfamiliar
I must find the darkest and safest spot

Sudden movement, not mine
Noise gets louder, overwhelming
Cries of panic burst from my beak
Moving objects shrink my dark, safe spot
Creatures in brown and green move around me

The creatures search around
Are they predators hunting?
If they find me will they eat me?
I am too frightened to fly away
In fear I lose control and screech aloud

One of the creatures hears
And looks where I have hidden
I am seen and arms reach for me
Gently I am enfolded by them
Taken where the noise and vibration cease

I worked for several years in the computer technical support department of a large company. During that time, I collected short statements from the incident logs ("worklogs") which were quite humorous. These are personally collected by me, and are not just written as a joke - except the added comments, of course ...
Spelling is not corrected, as that is sometimes part of the humor!

---

... since the customer can not visualize anything on the screen, almost like an OS issue.
So the customer needs the Braille version of Windows?

Found the script and did everything ... Nothing works.
Nothing works? Not even standing on your head and whistling Dixie?

... the Outlook issue is at steak.
No, no, no - the steak is at the Sizzler!
- or -
How terrible! The customer's difficulties with Outlook are at risk of getting fixed!

The customer has problems.
... and the tech has issues.

The customer claims that some people with an external account used to get encryption from him. I contradicted him.
The customer is always wrong!

... turning into a how to scenario, and what could be better.
I don't know - what could be better ... except maybe fixing the problem?

Remote conected to the customesr machine, the process is not taken. Tried it twice, unchecked.
... or maybe you just checked out?

The customer has a file that is password-protected. Could not break the password. Looked to see if it would work.
Yeah - those new retinal scanners are tough ...

Looked in the script and tried to solve this error, but did not work.
Keep up that not working, and pretty soon you won't have a job!

... after 20 minutes on call, I became hopeless.
No comment necessary :-)

Intersting Conversations

An online conversation in a Q & A format with a friend recently was interesting - I've modified it some for easier reading.

-------------------------------------- Q: --------------------------------------
"Just to play devil's advocate ...

Some would say that the Judeo part of Judeo-Christian looks a lot more like the Islamic states we see today (stoning for adultery, etc). If God is truly who we say He is, then why did He enact a set of laws and commands that so go against the Christian/Western morals that we so readily identify today as being right?"

-------------------------------------- A: --------------------------------------
"Good question!
In some ways the Mosaic Law is very similar to Sharia - but it's purpose is quite different. In Mosaic Law, there are two purposes: the first, and more hidden, is to demonstrate the gulf between what God is like and what Man is like: God shows us his character in the "thou shalt/thou shalt not" laws - but then gives "you may" laws which then ameliorate the stricter "Shalt/shalt not" laws (due to man's weakness - "it was because of the hardness of your hearts ..."). He also provided the sacrificial laws to provide a means of mercy amid the frenzy of justice. Carried within those laws, however, are also principles which are designed to make a society work - each one derived from a practical application of "love thy neighbor as thyself".
Sharia law, on the other hand, is more simple - it is a collection of "thou shalt/thou shalt not" laws, with punishments attached. There is no provision for mercy at the hands of the law - no temporal forgiveness (although Allah may forgive in the spirit world, the legal punishment must be carried out)."

-------------------------------------- Q: --------------------------------------
"But how do you reconcile the fact that at one point God endorsed stoning an adulteress and at another point He denounced it?" God is the same yesterday, today and forever...right?

-------------------------------------- A: --------------------------------------
At what point did God denounce stoning for adultery? I'm guessing you are referring to the "woman caught in adultery" story - presuming that to be the case, Jesus did not condemn the idea that her adultery deserved death, but merely pointed out that not one person who accused her was truly free of deserving the death penalty for their own sin.
It is worth noting that the passage itself (called the "Pericope Adulterae", and found at John 7:58 - 8:11 in the KJV) is not in the original documents - it is highly unlikely that John (or any other eyewitness) wrote it: however, I do think it is "in character" enough to be useful.

Romans 3:23 states that "the wages of sin is death ..." - and this is demonstrated in Torah by the fact that even relatively minor sins would require sacrifice (the taking of life) to cover. Even those that required "only" a grain offering could be considered as requiring life, for in a practical sense, grain was life: it was required to sustain life, and it required a portion of a man's life to cultivate: he put his life into the produce of his land.

Every sin deserves death - even (as Jesus pointed out) the ones we only commit in our attitudes or thoughts - for sin is rejection of God, who is the source of life. You could consider a person like a toaster - if we become unplugged from our source, we are dead, and of no value: it is only when we are plugged in to a source that we truly live. In the same way, sin is an "unplugging", a rejection of our source, and the obvious consequence is lifelessness - aka death. "Unplugging" ourselves has a second consequence - just as an unplugged toaster cannot plug itself back in, we cannot re-establish our connection (relationship) to God: we haven't the power (because we're not plugged in, right image ) The amazing thing is that God doesn't just toss out his old toasters - he offers to plug us back in. If we have learned the lesson that we are dependent on Him, and will take Him up on His offer, He plugs us back in, and fills us with a fresh and new life! He does not do this by ignoring our deserving death, but by providing Jesus death as a participatory means of paying the penalty of death: then filling us with Jesus' Resurrection Life.

So, to recap - all sin always deserves death, but death is not God's goal - He never desires it, but we frequently demand it by our sin! God has not changed, but we can be!

A seemingly random thought - in Olde English???

Pity we, then, the man who, in both intent and in deed, doth reject the unaccountable - saying in his heart "if thou cannot demonstrate it thus, then thus it is not."
Such a man has descended from the paragon of animal to the mere animal, and in his reliance on reason hath left reason behind.

A Poem

I was recently introduced to Abbey of the Arts - a blog by Christine Valters Paintner. She hosts a "Poetry Party" online - using a photograph to provide subject matter. Many wonderful poems get posted in response - well worth a look!
This time around, the photo is of a dragon - a gargoyle or guardian - from Riga, Latvia.
Please take the time to read her description - I wouldn't want to simply copy and paste - and what she says is well worth thinking about.

Being who I am, though - a dragon collector - I just had to write about it.

For those who care about such things, I chose to write an odd combination of two poetic forms: three stanzas of interlocking Rubáiyát, with a Limerick inserted between the second and third stanzas - as far as I know, an original form.

The Watcher - a Rubayick

The watcher guards the portal true
a blade of steel, a bow of yew
permitting nought an evil spate
allowing life and blessing through

The watcher sits beside the gate
accept, deny - for neither wait
the ruling comes with no delay
decision swift is watcher's trait

In watcher meet welcome and warding
The joining of giving and hoarding
the giver accepts
receptor projects
in each is the other a-borning

the watcher made the open way
He passed through night into the day
He will reopen Golden Gate
Eternal truth He will display