A Pair of Poems

[Jon Merk photo]

Today, I felt like posting a pair of poems I wrote about God as a Master Artist. They are illustrated by photos taken by my oldest son, Jon, who spends every possible weekend, with his wife Zenny, camping and exploring the plentiful wilderness in our beautiful province of B.C.]

FLAWLESS MAGICIAN
written july 14, 2002


twenty thousand
four hundred and fifty days
upon this earth
have I
gazed up in unceasing wonder
at the
fascinating
Sky,
each morning opening
my eyes upon
a brand new canvas
lit up by the dawn,
ready for
brush strokes
by a Master Artist's hand,
in hourly transformations
bright and clear
across the land.


I look away, look back,
and all has changed.
Unseen, the canvas
has been
re-arranged,
like a flawless magician
whose magic is
too pure to understand,
our eyes drink in
the beauty
and applaud
the sleight of hand.


No two canvasses alike,
each one supremely
unflawed,
an ever-changing masterpiece
created there
by God.

[Jon Merk photo]

God's Paintbrush

[written in the fall of 2010 in response to this photo,
taken by my son,  Jon Merk, in the middle of the Rocky Mountains]


This could be a painting
by Cezanne:
the layers of light,
the colors of the sky,
clouds painted on the water
by a heavenly Artist's
hand;


Or a landscape by Monet,
images softening and blurring
in the corner of the eye:
a perfection of beauty
lighting up
the land.


The light is something
out of
Dali's dreams.
And if you rounded
the soft lines enough,
where the mountain's edge
is rough and clear,
it seems
Van Gogh himself
might even
feel welcome
here.


I am no artist
but when I view
the shape and color
of this
sky,
see the clouds
swimming in the lake,
the mountain
reaching high,
there is
so much beauty
ablaze that
even I
can surmise
what God
must have felt,
feel all
He must have
wished,
the day He
put down His
paintbrush,
after painting
this.