Faith Love and Compassion, the poems of Elaine Coltham

 

Morning Bright, Starry Night

Morning bright
Starry night
And all that’s in between
Thank you Father for today
Your blessings I have seen.

Start of day
Till end of play
Snatched moments spent with you
Thank you Father for every challenge
Your love has guided me through.

Crazy day
Gone away
Now let me seek Your face
Thank you Father because today
My mistakes You wrapped in grace.

2009

11th of the 11th

Old soldier’s tears silently fall
His suffering we must never ignore
He carries deep scars of atrocities past
Of sadly, a sometimes forgotten war.

His hands now gnarled, misshapen
Decades past since he held a gun
Or tenderly cradled a dying friend
In foul trenches that saw no sun.

So memories go down amidst poppies
Painfully laid by statue of stone
Where torn apart families remember
Their loved ones who never came home.

Shiny medals glint in the sunshine
Dignified silence of unspoken word
And thoughts of young soldiers still dying
As this world's battle cries are still heard.

His hope that prayers will be answered
For a day when conflict will cease
Then we will honour the dead by our striving
For a legacy from their loss to be peace.

2007

New hands to lift the burdens

(Dedicated to Nelson Mandela)

New hands to lift the burdens
New hands reach out for peace
To carry on this global striving
Until poverty one day will cease.

New hands to deliver the protests
New hands, some big, some small
Pledging now to realise your vision
Once glimpsed beyond a prison wall.

New hands applaud your inspiration
New hands take this baton on
Holding tight crushing cruel oppression
Then they will rise to victory’s song.

New hands will feel life’s callous
New hands bruise at disappointment’s pain
Dusted down on the long walk to freedom
Until only equality and compassion remain.

New hands pull away evil darkness
New hands catch falling scales from our eyes
On the world’s floor, lie broken chains of injustice
Then we will watch as greed and apathy dies.

New hands beat a changing rhythm
New hands join to dance now as one
As mankind’s music plays a precious harmony
And our love will overpower any gun.

June 2008

Coast to Coast

Coast to coast
Night to day
Your bright starlit sky
My dawn comes to play.

Snow to sun
Mists to rain
Stones into water
Pray for you again

Ocean to land
Dusk to dawn
Your darkness of night
My bright new morn.

Miles to miles
Laughter to tears
Friendship not distance
Will travel the years.

Maybe You Wore The Red Ribbon

One day it came
Like a storm invading
A perfect day
Fresh from dawn.
And with its arrival
A piece of the world
Lost innocence forever.
For it infected the people
Tainting the nations
Consuming young and old alike
As it fragmented families
Like some fatal eraser
With the power to destroy.
They called it AIDS
The tip of an iceberg
We dared not mention it
Lest we were caught
In its frightening snare
Did we view them like Lepers?
Did fear consume our compassion?
Did it command the same pity?
As a famine or flood
Maybe you wore the red ribbon
Then forgot for another year.
For in its wake it claimed an icon
And we mourned the loss
When his voice fell silent.
Could we ever have imagined?
The impact of this virus
Of children left behind
To carry the burden on, inside
Do we see now, do we care?
In this world of growing distraction
When a hand is outstretched
And our love is required.
See the child, the young mother
A grandmother, a brother
See the person, their need
Not what's carried inside
Give them hope in their darkness
And their children a future
Fresh vision for tomorrow
And a heart of compassion,
From within our own lives.

Elaine Coltham, 2004

Gimme

Gimme a shelter
Because I need a home
Gimme a friend
Don’t wanna be alone

Gimme some love
And I’ll pass it on
Gimme a guitar
I’ll play you my song

Gimme my freedom
Wanna learn how to fly
Gimme a question
So I can ask why

Gimme some hope
In this vast world of fear
Gimme the gospel
And maybe I’ll hear

Gimme the message
So I can believe
Gimme the reason
For forgiveness received

Gimme The Father
I will follow The Son
Gimme your work
Till life’s day is done

Gimme a chance
To repay His great loss
Gimme no more
For I saw the cross.

Elaine Coltham