My Assignment

Most of my readers know that I’m still teaching at the college level—sometimes only online and sometimes in person via Zoom. I gave my creative writing class today an assignment: write a sonnet. A few times, I give myself the same assignment and so this week I wrote two:

Still, You are God

I see You in the sunrise through my blinds,
In quiet moments no one else can see;
When life gets loud and peace is hard to find,
You whisper through the noise and steady me.

I’ve walked through days when answers would not come,
And wondered if You heard me when I prayed;
Yet somehow, when I thought that I was done,
Your grace became the strength that made me stay.

You never said this life would have no pain,
Or every broken dream would turn out right;
But You have walked beside me through the rain,
And held my hand through every sleepless night.

I do not know what waits beyond today,
But You are God—and You will make a way.

His Song Remains

The music did not end when you were gone;
It lingers in the places that you knew.
A melody, a chord, a cherished song
Can close the years and bring me back to you.

Your hands once gave the waiting notes their wings,
Your heart found words when words were hard to say;
And even now, when someone softly sings,
I feel you somehow cannot be far away.

We shared a life where music filled the air,
Through joyful days and nights of grief and prayer;
And though I cannot see you standing there,
The songs you left still tell me you are near.

One day, beyond this silence and goodbye,
We’ll sing again where music never dies.