Stand By Me

"When the night is come and the land is dark.......
When the mountain should crumble to the sea....
No, I won't be afraid.......
No, I won't shed a tear.......
Oh darlin'....'long as you stand by me....."
(Ben E. King  1961)

We have sworn, one another
To stand
Feet fixed firmly in intent
We will stand
Leaving, forsaking all others
We will stand
I have your back, watching to protect you from the unseen
You walk in loyal vigilance against all who would come against us
Remaining planted in the blessings we see
Never trading them for possible blessing seen elsewhere
We are invested in the value each sees in the other
Against, if necessary, family
Against, if required, friends
Against, as needed, against all enemies
Each trusting his partner to seek that which is best
Not for himself alone
Not for the other alone
But for the whole, the all that we can be together
Leaving is but a step
Toward cleaving to one another
Becoming something else
Something other
Something never seen before in this world
Founded in fealty
Forged in the fires of testing
Joy and sorrow
Plenty and poverty
Dance and dying
Worship and weeping
Against all the forces that might crumble our mountain
Stand by me

Tonight We Made Love

Tonight we made love
Laughter and cheese sandwiches
Over a bowl of tomato soup
Thoughtful sharing of heart and mind
Deep thoughts
Footsie played across the span between chairs
I read aloud
She fixed my computer
Tender words
Shared from tender hearts
I love you
Proffered not after the heat of passion
But in the realization of truth
Arm in arm
Lip to lip
We hugged and held one another close
I did the dishes
She scolded the complaining pooch
She laughed at dumb jokes
I told her of my pride in her
Tonight we made love
Not in any sense of entwining bodies
Musky passion
Tonight we made love
In word and deed

I Walked The Hills Of Heaven

I walked the hills of heaven today
Beneath a setting sun
The streets below a grand display
Of golden threads were spun

The gates of pearls like clouds before
His throne rose pillared white
His Spirit like a breath did soar
And beckoned peace invite

In verdant valley then I saw
The bones of men arise
Praising silently in awe
The Maker of the skies

Whose hand was filled with healing light
To all once dead within
Who bowed before His rule and right
And bade Him enter in

To wounded heart to make it whole
To heal where death had been
And rising now, the song did roll
Resounding through my ken.

Hallelujah's cry they then employed
To lifting of the grail
To praise their God, their spirits buoyed
To tell the ancient tale

How God came down to them to dwell
As man midst their travail
To live to break the selfish shell
And the tearing of the Veil.

The balance scales that did assay
Our turning to the night
He righted them again to stay
If we'd live within His light

A gift He offered us for free
Though paid with sweat and blood
To lift us to the place where He
Poured out the cleansing flood

And along the narrow way below
Their hearts all bowed in awe
They glimpsed the God whose love did flow
With no shame or curse from Law.

I walked the hills of heaven today
Rejoicing in the birth
As God's own peace holds man in sway
In His kingdom here on earth





New poem by Tom Klindt

The Bond of the Band.

A simple thing.
A pledge.
A promise.
An expression of the desire of the soul
Offered with an open heart.
A simple premise.
A request.
A question.
A supplication of the most sincere kind
Proffered with hopeful expectation.
A simple response.
A confirming.
A guarantee.
A granting that reciprocates with love
Warranting the hope held breathlessly.
An agreement.
A partnership unfolds.
A covenant begins its forthcoming.
Two souls.
Two hearts.
Two individual existences
Begin the mingling of colors,
And thoughts,
And experiences.
Symbiosis most profound
Is represented by this ring.