Oh, my dear brother, the afternoons are many
That I have seen you
Face to Face.

Kind lines on your forehead, cheeks and chin
Illumine Hope.
Shining in your smirks and smiles
In whispers,
Visible in the gleam of your eyes,
Wonders of life with God
Carried on divine winds
From you
To me
To this page.

“What would it take,” you ask,
“For me to put this menu together all by myself?”
And you do not turn your face from me.
“What kind of farm would it take to produce all the food on this menu?”
You bring me closer.
“This coffee, this salt, everything.
These are businessmen doing a good job,” you say.
“This is brotherly love.”

In coffee
In pepper and salt
In delicate flavors of spice
In textures and colors
In supporting beams
In the rock of a hearth
Where you prefer to take your meal.
You see Love
Where I would not think to look.

Love in our food.
Love in the trees and the clouds.
Love in the dry, yellow grasslands of our home
Love between us.
Gazing at your face
I begin to comprehend
As my budding soul
Sparks some resemblance.

Love veiled in poverty
Uttering riddles
At appointed times.

Precious fragments from your limitless world
Through the cogent boundaries of mine,
Ignite meaning
Issuing likeness divine.
Do I finally see you?
Has love lifted the veil from your face?
“I live with God,” you say.
Has God been born in me through you?

Distance impassable
Between your life
And mine.
Between your face
And my wanting heart.

Suspicion in reason
Fails sweetness of trust.
Strength in capacity
Betrays meekness of deprivation.
Pride in knowledge
Denies the certainty of heaven.
Confidence immovable
Ignores offers of help.

Like a rose pressed against the heart
That is allowed to fall
Sense renders nonsense of love.

Do not surrender hope
And the promise of heaven,
I imagine you say,
When it is free.

Open to me and wipe the dew from my face,
Consecrate your heart to Love
Wherein salvation is assured
For all.

I remain on the phone
Hearing but not seeing,
Love passed to you
From another.
I wait for you and worry
Your face turned from me.
Resurrected you draw near
Show yourself
And I listen.

Well-springs of God,
Hidden oases,
Treasures in the stillness of space
Utterly simple,
Traversing limits of knowledge,
Boundless by design
Heavenly dreams
Of a trusting child
Pass to fallen man
With a single request:
Build heaven on earth.

Love is the beginning,
Love is the end,
Spiraling in cycles of growth
The Alpha and the Omega
The Yin and the Yang
Arriving where I began
Hope cradles me anew
Waiting for Sunday sun.

“Good to see you Joe,” I say.
“Good to see you Donnie,” you reply
“You look good Joe.”
“Well, thank you Donnie. Thank you,”
“Donnie, I have known you your whole life, and it’s always good to see you.”