Love
And love does not blow away like dust in the wind
Or when challenged turn dark and cold.
Love is not a moment or passing feeling
Or a blast of passion that burns meaning away.

And love is the partner of forgiveness and compassion,
She dances elegant and untiring through the long night.
And love is a man open-armed nailed to a tree
And the parent that knows when to hold and when to let go.

Love is not condemnation or judgement, a curse or burden
Love is an eternal hope, a road that we travel together
It is not the prison of the closed door or deceit and lies.
It has a shape and value a meaning and a memory.

Love has purpose to build truth and goodness,
It searches the city for the lost and looks to lift those fallen down.
Love is a shelter for the homeless, a song in this desolation,
A touch for the leper and mercy for the sinner.

And love will not crush you or leave you in angry pain,
It will speak with meaning and reason not wild emotion.
Love will be a light that leads us to the eternal lands
And the embrace of our Father when we come home.

Do not let us fall into silence,

Friendship drift into estrangement and unknowing,

The warmth of love become cold distant memories

The beauty of your face fade and become unfocused.

Do not let these paths we walked become overgrown

Or these ways well known become strange.

That your touch would seem gentle and familiar

And your love warm enough to last.

Choose to take this harder road

Walk the mountain, face a dangerous way.

Turn from the prison of your comfort

Live today, live this day.

Oh the wind on the moors is vicious

Oh the storms of the desert harsh

But the light of our love is a bright star

And the song of our souls strong enough

So reach out from the island of darkness

Step out from the shipwreck of your home

And dance on the uplands and wild ways

Make here a new life on the mountain,

Choose here a new home.

For us this day,

A chance to live again,

An opportunity to hope,

A day to love.

A possibility for friendship for meeting.

A time when we could share our bread,

Dream our dreams and remember

Or better then make a memory

A sculpture of joy for tired hearts,

And listening hear these eternal songs

The melodies of creation and of life

Infusing everything around us

A spark that keeps our hearts beating

And the endless wind blowing

And our thoughts rising from depths of silence.

For today is ours a gift given freely

A moment to live a time to be.