I'd Like to Know singles

I’d Like to
Know…..
Carol Plunkett

Wonder
Though a trillion coloured droplets just refract to cause an arc
And though atmospheric pressure can explain Aurora’s spark
And the moon and sun’s alignment can account for sudden
dark
Still you wonder…..
While a flock of birds’ formation is just clever ebb and flow
And their epic navigation is pure habit, don’t you know?
Scientific explanation can account for where they go
Still you wonder…..

Oh a butterfly’s perfection is mere camouflage, we hear
And a baby’s soft complexion just ensures its mother’s care
And the human heart’s affection is electrical, that’s clear
Still you wonder…..
If we really are just carbon, why the need for poetry?
Why does music spur our hearts on, lift our senses joyfully?
Why the laughter and the heartache if it’s all just chemistry?
Makes you wonder

In the Beginning
It happened many years ago
In a dark and shapeless void
When a Hand of Power formed a precious world
A wonder to be enjoyed
Not only with intricate delicacy
Did He fashion this gift He made
But He formed a boundless Universe
Where His treasure could be displayed
And as a Master Craftsman will
He added delightful gems
Of mountain vistas, trees and seas
Exquisite diadems
He added creatures small and vast
As living counterparts
But longed to share Creation’s dream
With God-filled, human hearts

At first the man He made was true
His woman made things whole
They roamed His Garden safe and blessed
Till into sin they stole
They were encouraged, this is true
From one whose heart was bad
And spoiling them was his desire
To make the Maker sad
And so with heavy, grieving heart
God turned them to the world
Not full-abandoned, yet exiled
And Satan downward hurled
The story could have ended there
But God still loved His man
And while they battled bitter lives
He formed a rescue plan…

Surely not, Lord? Surely not people?
You just could have stopped when You finished the apes
Why could You have needed to go one more stage?
You knew we would argue, be bitter and selfish
So why insert humans on History’s stage?
Imagine the peace of a Man-less existence
With animals living Utopia’s dream
They’d populate Earth in a natural manner
With no higher species to rule them supreme
And yet, You decided that man had some value
Completed Creation and made it all whole
In fact, in Your words, the Earth needed subduing
So You formed a Man for a management role
You hoped for relationship, worship and thanks, Lord
You’d fight our rebellion with Your constant love
You knew our capacity for self-destruction
Could only be calmed by a hand from above

So where are we now in the Cosmic Agenda?
With battles and evils of inhuman scale?
We fear to address what we’ve really become, Lord
How can You bear watching the ways that we fail?
No, really, what value do You think we’ve added?
We’ve killed and destroyed in a ravenous way
How can You continue to love without question?
When You see the pain we inflict every day?
You came once, it seems, with a plan for redemption
So Man had some help in his struggle to cope
We pray for the power of His efforts to save us
For while He fights for us, cares for us, there’s hope

Frailty
Life doesn’t go how you want it to go
I just didn’t notice before
I thought I was choosing, directing, in charge
For problems, I’d work out the cure
I’d set myself challenges, goals to achieve
Assured they were within my grasp
No blockage or barrier I couldn’t stride
I’d hurdle them to my last gasp
But one day the threads from my fingers did slip
I questioned my sense of control
Solutions I’d found in the past didn’t fit
Uncertainty soon took its toll

For life has its pitfalls, its dangers and hurts
Its giants and demons and worse
We need to look up, to accept we need help
To walk it alone is a curse
But God, when He made us, He knew we’d resist
Preferring our own lives to run
He knew we’d need picking up, mending, rebirth
So that’s why He came, as His Son

Saviour
A baby born to save the Earth
Unlikely though the claim
Grew up to measure each man’s worth
But loved them just the same
A man who studied each man’s heart
With eyes to pierce the soul
Rejected none who stood apart
But gave each one a role
His light was fierce for some who saw
Not all could bear its glow
For those with spirits mean or poor
They hoped he’d never know
But this was just the point, it seemed
Why into life He stepped
An offer for the unredeemed
If only they’d accept

A world for you
If I could paint a world for you, my child,
I’d fill it with the sparkle of new life
With bursting buds I’d break the frosted ground
Eliminate your darkness and your strife
I’d drench your ears with birdsong and your skin
Would tingle with the sunlit warmth of love
I’d draw your heart with fullness, till you know
My peace and tranquil beauty from above
If I could paint a world for you, my child,
Our days in lost abandon we would spend
No thoughts would crowd out wonder or pure joy
And time would never start and never end

Trust
Like an ant in a maze I traverse my life
And at first all the tunnels seem long
With focus and hope
I walk a straight path
Unafraid of what may come along
When obstacles rise, as they surely will do
I employ my best hurdling skills
With a leap and a sweep
Never pausing to weep
I straddle life’s troublesome ills
But sometimes the way isn’t direct or true
There are detours and often dead ends
If we knew the pattern
Before we set off
Could we train in advance for the bends?

No, we won’t be given a map of our route
Just keep turning life’s corners we must
The route will have perils
But happiness too
We are called to a journey of trust
We’re not from a Maker who makes us then leaves
Abandoning us to life’s griefs
A celestial puppeteer
Cutting our strings
And testing our fragile beliefs
No, we’re from a Hand that is gentle and kind
A buffer absorbing life’s pains
Our journey’s not simple
But we’re not alone
Let’s trust Him for all that remains

Though we’re dust
I walked on a sunbeam for a moment yesterday
And things that were hurting ceased their hurting for a time
My cheeks felt the windblast of a future yet unlived
And my grey muddy puddles turned to pools of light sublime
I rose over jagged rocks and soared above the stars
And Earth’s earthbound tendrils couldn’t seem to pull me down
The pure light of freedom for a moment truly mine
Bright planets a halo and clear moonbeams for a gown
That brief sense of power, of release, of ecstasy
To mind brought a knowing, a completeness and a trust
That more lies above us, and around us and within
And we’ll walk the star-paths, dance with angels, though we’re dust

I’d Like to Know…..
A collection of poems taking a raw look at
Life, Creation &
Salvation
Carol Plunkett
£5.99