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Jubilee: four poems by Robert Funderburk


Painting: minimalist style, soft yellow sky, light green grass below, curved white streak separating them, and soft blue grass above the white, image by Garrett, on Pixabay.


















wilderness way, image by Garrett, on Pixabay



 

Year of Jubilee

 

What God saw

 

Jesus in the Garden,

Sweating drops of blood,

As he prayed for the flesh

That encased the Messiah

And for the souls of all mankind.

Most brutal of deaths, the tomb

The rising again of the Nazarene,

Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem

In crumbled stone, fire and blood.

The Jewish nation over the centuries

In diaspora, ridicule, inquisition

Death camps and crematoria,

Through it all, keeping covenant with God

“Next year in Jerusalem,”

Who brought them together

Once again as a nation

Keeping covenant with Israel.

 

 

What God expects

 

Keep blood covenant

With my Son,

The covenant of Calvary

And the empty tomb.

Oh, yes. The tough one,

“Become as little children.”

 

 

 

 

(Previously published as a longer version by Heart of Flesh, May 2021) 

Scripture reference: Matthew 18:3

 



                    *

 

 

Slaves

 

The sacrifice of God’s own Son

On that appointed tree

Before the world and water were

Was destined for our liberty

Like summer when she breathes

The life that spring has sown

And offers what we all could share

And yet so few have known

With ease and swiftness it departs

While heedlessly we wait

For we are slaves of our own hearts

And freedom comes so late

 

 


                   *

 

 

 

Lost and Found

 

You are the nascent whisper

Of an autumn breeze

The clouds that gather

The rain that falls

Memory of all the years

Before and after you were here

A lost dream of heaven

Where the Son is the Light

And the arms of angels

Lift us from this night

 

  

 

                 *

 

  

New

 

He’s a lamp for our feet on the path

Toward that endless and brighter day

Though our sins were darkest night

His Blood has washed them away

 

He says, “Do not fear, little flock.”

You will be called by your new names 

He is your sword and your shield                                                          

You will not be brought to shame                                                                            

 

Remember, the past is no more

Our God makes everything new

In wilderness He builds a road

In the desert a stream for you                                       

 

 

 

 

Scripture references: Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 4:18, Revelation 1:5, Luke 12:32,

Isaiah 56:5, Deuteronomy 33:29, Isaiah 54:4, Revelation 21:5, and Isaiah 43:19





_____________________________







Robert Funderburk was born by coal oil lamplight in his home near Liberty, Mississippi, graduated from Louisiana State University in 1965, served as Staff Sargeant in the US Air Force Reserves from 1965 to 1971. His writing experience includes seventeen published novels, one

a national bestseller; eighty-five poems and five short stories accepted by various literary journals; and one chapbook. He is a 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee. Along with his wife, Barbara, Robert lives and writes from the peace of their home on fifty acres of wilderness in Olive Branch, Louisiana.








July 2024 issue

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cmbharris
cmbharris
Jul 23

Another selection of wonderful poems by Robert Funderburk. "Like summer when she breathes

The life that spring has sown," "the arms of angels Lift us from this night," and "In wilderness He builds a road In the desert a stream for you." 

 

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