Be Careful How You Smile

 











Be Careful How You Smile

Be careful little children how you smile.

Be careful little children how you smile.

There's big media there with mikes

And you won't get any likes

If you're not careful little children how you smile.

© 2019 by Tom King

Sixteen Chapel Hills

Sixteen Chapel Hills

I've often wondered how many towns named Chapel Hill
We have  scattered across this nation.
I seem to hear that name a lot as I have roamed,
Turns out it's not just my imagination.

There are sixteen Chapel Hill's just one per state
Through the South, Midwest and even more
Along the East coast, but you cannot find a Chapel Hill
From the Rockies clear to California's shore.

I think the Chapel Hill's were named for churches;
The white steepled ones on hills where they were raised,
So that, when we looked up, we'd see those crosses high
Above the places where we launched our prayers and praised.

I'm not sure why no Chapel Hills were built out west.
Where certainly there were hills aplenty to suit church people.
I suspect the mountains have something to do with it.
With those rocky spires about, it seems God doesn't need a steeple.

I hope we do not cease to build those chapel hills,
Even if we stop naming towns for such homely places.
I hope we do not cease to praise and pray in them.
And if only once a week, toward heaven turn our faces.

© 2019 by Tom King

A Good Man Gone

A Good Man Gone

A good man leaves such a hole behind when he is gone.

So many could have beens.

So many should have beens.

So many would have beens.

Strung out like stones in our path

Waiting to trip us up and make us weep,

When we remember who he was,

And why we miss him.

Micah Joel King (1977-2006)

© 2019 by Tom King

April 30 - A Light in the Window

I was out among the hoi polloi all day today,
   Common folk taking care of business in their usual way,
Eating lunch down at McDonalds, at Wally World, on buses,
   Scarfing down a sandwich at the local Chik-fil-A.

Rain threatened, umbrellas bloomed across the parking lots,
   No one minded much, just hunkered down a bit, kept going
To the next place on the list, the next thing needing doing,
   Only a little dampened irritation showing.

By the time my feet were growing warm and heavy,
   I'd gathered supplies enough to hold us for awhile.
And turned for home, bags full, tasks all completed,
   Eyes searching along the familiar homeward mile.

The sun gone, a dusky light through silent trees along the lane,
   The familiar rooftop where the road will end in just a minute.
Another hundred feet or so and there it is, I see it now.
   The well-remembered window and the light left glowing in it.

© 2019 by Tom King

April 29 - A Man in Love

 

 

 

 

 

A Man in Love

Did I forget to tell you?
Did I forget to say?
Did I forget to love you
Sometime through the day?
Did I miss the moment love?
Did I miss the little glance?
Did I miss the gift I could have given?
Did I miss the chance?

Our time here's growing briefer.
Our opportunities for showing 
Our "I love you's" to one another.
Our time is softly going.
Help me catch the moment love.
Help more than just with glances.
Help me hear your heart my love.
I'm a man. I need more chances.

© 2019 by Tom King

April 28 - One Single Moment

One Single Moment

Once in a lifetime, comes a moment,
   You weren't even looking for,
When you stumble on a kindred soul,
    And walk together for a time along the shore.

One single moment makes the difference,
    One small voice will have its say.
One certainty in all the world you've found,
    One love that will not ever fade away.

To think I might have missed you,
     It's a thought to terrify.
The empty places I'd still carry,
     If you had only passed me by.

One single moment makes the difference,
    One small voice will have its say.
One certainty in all the world I've found,
    One love that will not ever fade away. 

Before I knew you I had loved you,
     I'd lain awake and wondered who.
Who you were; who I was missing. 
     And how I'd ever know when I found you.

But that moment made the difference,
    That small voice that had its say.
That certainty that in all the world I'd found,
    One love I knew will never fade away.


© 2019 by Tom King

April 27 - A Looming of Inquisitors.

No one ever expects the coming of the Inquisitors

A Looming of Inquisitors

I've seen it coming a long time now,
   In history books I read when I was a boy,
        In later years I read the warnings in the Scriptures.
Now I see it happening again in the papers and on the nightly news.
   The grim inquisitors are creeping back and in amongst us,
        Settling deep into the dark niches far up the halls of power.

Their numbers grow. They settle like fat, self-satisfied ticks
    Engorging themselves with the blood of the people our fathers
         Once made free and strong - sucking just a little bit of it;
Injecting in place of blood, the suspicious sweetness of empty promise,
    The temptation to self-righteous sanctimony
         And shallow belonging in place of honest solitude. 

The inquisition brings with it easy choices but only if,
    You don't think about the consequences of your choosing.
         If you pretend there are no consequences to be had.
The Autumn is coming against the looming of inquisitors,
    A shadow of something larger approaching glorious,
        On the horizon brewing in the vast and utter East.

 © 2019 by Tom King