My Sunflower Garden

One more sunflower poem for you...

Photo by Maude

 MY SUNFLOWER GARDEN

 

My sunflower garden is sheer delight

filling my backyard with beams of light

It’s where I find time to commune with God

amid gigantic blessings, sprung from sod

 

They sway in the breeze and make me smile

as I sit meditative, for awhile

Each luminous face is haloed gold

atop stalks like soldiers, straight and bold

 

They outshine all other blooms around

Each sunburst the buzzing bees surround

and butterflies come a-winging, too

I saw some Monarchs alight a few

 

After days of dazzle, they’ll bow their heads

Grown weary, their golden petals shed

presenting a somber prayerful stance

inspiring intercessions as I glance

 

I watch bees draw nectar, soon the birds

will feast upon their seeds, as spurred

This is nature’s way; how life goes on

It’s the Master plan we depend upon

 

I believe my garden is God’s gift

to empower my spirit to uplift

So much depends on these golden kings—

Beauty, sustenance…eternal things!

 

Maude Carolan Pych

Would you like to read more of my poems? I have two books available, "Behold the Lamb...poetically!" and "Wonderhoods." For ordering information, go to www.maudecarolanpych.net.

Sensational Sunflowers!

 

Photo by Maude

FREE GIFTS

 

For weeks now

I’ve been driving by a house

on Totowa Road

that holds no distinction

except for a vibrant flower garden

in front and around the side

 

What catches my glance

and causes me to smile

are perhaps thirty or forty

gigantic golden sunflowers

shouting for attention

 

Today I printed

eight sunflower poems

folded them neatly

and placed them in an envelope

decorated with a scribbled sketch

of a solitary sunflower

and a note saying

I love them, too!

and left the envelope

by the front door

of the house I often pass

 

Sometimes I leave bereavement poems

on a table at a neighborhood mausoleum

or give copies of my chapbook

The Widow’s Song

to newly widowed friends

Sometimes I mail poems

about butterflies

to people who love them

and regularly post poems on my blog

about God’s love and His mercy

with the hope

of reaching those

who need encouragement

 

When the one who gifted me

with a garden full of sunbursts

opens the door today

I hope my simple poems

generate a smile

 

Maude Carolan Pych

Books of Poetry by Maude Carolan Pych

Available online

For ordering information click here.

It's Sunflower Time of Year

Photo by Maude

SUNFLOWERS MAKE ME SMILE

 

Sunflowers make me smile—

because they’re absolutely outrageous!

They’re taller than a beanstalk

and way, way larger than a flower should be

 

They easily pass me in height

and keep right on growing

Each stately stalk and its sturdy leaves

go up, up, up like a ladder to Heaven

and when that flower bursts into bloom

it lights up my whole backyard

like the sun’s come down for a visit

All the shaggy petals are golden sunrays

shining upon me, while

the bees buzz with delight

sucking in nectar

 

I think God made sunflowers

to cause us to look up and take notice

of His handiwork and His generosity

 

His Love, too! The bigness of it!

His magnificent magnanimousness!

 

Oh! It’s certainly no wonder—

Whenever I see sunflowers

they always, always, always make me smile J

 

Maude Carolan Pych 

Would you like to read more of Maude's poetry?

Her book about the Birth, Death & Resurrection of Jesus,

"Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

is available online at Amazon.com & BarnesandNoble.com

For more poems, videos & information, visit her website:

www.maudecarolanpych.net

"The Watchman"

Here's one of my earliest poems

but the words seem more timely now than ever...

Image credit: aboverubies.org

 THE WATCHMAN

 

Perhaps the Mashiach[1]

is on His way,

ready

to lead us

to the Promised Land.

There have been signs

of His coming

that haven’t been reported

in the papers

or radio or TV newscasts.

 

I’m a watchman.

I wait.

I prepare,

knowing not

the Day or the Hour.

I plant my rose bush

at the gate,

sup,

rinse my bowl,

retire--

trying to live

His Great Command

as best I can.

 

Perhaps He’ll come

tomorrow.

It’s possible.

 

Maude Carolan

---

[1] Mashiach is Hebrew for Messiah

More of Maude's poems can be found online

to read or listen to on her website and blog.

For information on how to order her books

go to: www.maudecarolanpych.net

or send her an email at: maudecpych@gmail.com

Two Ocean Grove Poems...

 

Bob & I just returned home after four delightful days at The Lilligaard B&B in Ocean Grove, NJ. While there I left a stack of decorative copies of my poem, "Camp Meeting Week" at the Bishop Janes Tabernacle and also at the 150-year-old B&B.

Photo by Maude

HAIKU

 

On Ocean Grove beach

a Cross atop a sand dune

is a seagull’s perch

 

Maude Carolan Pych

WORSHIPFUL CONTRASTS, OCEAN GROVE

 

9 a.m. Sunday—

Contemporary worship. Boardwalk Pavilion, Ocean Grove

This is where we worship with snare drums and guitars

funky drama and spontaneous praise dance on the boards

facing sand and spray and rising sun

This is where we lift our hands and shout "Hallelujah!"

louder than the rousing rhythmic praise

of the waves crashing in our midst

This is where families come in tees and tank tops

cut-off denim, wrinkly cotton shorts

bare feet, sneakers, flip-flops

It's where we fan ourselves with song-sheets

chug from Poland Spring bottles

and flip through the pages of our Bibles

It's where we greet strangers, unabashedly

with "Praise the Lord!" and hugs and exit

faces shining with Moses-glow

 

10:30 a.m. Sunday—

Classic worship. Great Auditorium, Ocean Grove

I walk briskly from the Boardwalk Pavilion

(with my Moses-glow) to the old Methodist edifice

with its prominent Cross facing the Atlantic

This is where thousands gather

facing a purpose spelled out in lights:

Holiness to the Lord—So be ye holy

This is where worshipers arrive in crisp pressed cotton

and wrinkle-free polyester, strap sandals, pumps and pearls

where we rise and sing on key, hymns by Wesley and Crosby

where we utter printed responses by rote and in unison

Here, to the accompaniment of a historic pipe organ

we hear a traditional choir sing traditional hymns

and accomplished tenors and sopranos

and some of the greatest preachers on earth

do magnificently what they have been magnificently trained to do

This is where we pray quietly, reverently, solemnly

hands folded in our laps, as 100 silver-haired ushers

process prominently with collection baskets

wearing white slacks, dark jackets and red ties

with white carnations pinned to their lapels

This is where Gordon Turk, the organist

presents a resounding recessional

as we nod at one other warmly

and walk out edified into a balmy afternoon

 

Maude Carolan Pych

Looking for a book to read this summer? 

Maude's book, "Behold the Lamb...poetically!"

is available online at Amazon & Barnes & Noble.

www.maudecarolanpych.net