Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Great Breakfast Taco Hunt

Excerpt from "The Great Breakfast Taco Hunt"

The caretaker slid a very large key into the door’s lock and turned it counter-clockwise. Joseph heard two “thumps” as the tumblers fell and watched the old man push the heavy door inward.
The room that held the library seemed to be even darker than the hallway where they stood. Joseph leaned slightly to his left to try to see around the caretaker and into the room. He thought he heard something scurry across the floor as caretaker pushed the door completely open. Joseph’s breath caught and he took a small step backwards when he heard the sound again.
Luke turned towards the boy, “Don’t be afraid, that is just little mice with big echoes.”
“It sounded pretty loud for mice.” Joseph replied.
Luke smiled, his eyes glittering under the candlelight. “This old room is like a big old cavern, it echoes all the sounds it keeps. And it keeps them all.”
Joseph looked pass the caretaker and into the library. Darkness was all his eyes could see. He waited to hear the sound again. When it did not come, the old man gestured for Joseph to wait and then turned and entered the dark room.
A full minute passed before a light came on, cutting through the darkness.
Luke was standing in the center of the large room, “Come on in Joseph. It is time for you to meet the Library.”
Joseph thought it was a strange to introduce a room as if it was a person, but it managed to get his thoughts away from the strange noises, so he slowly entered the room.
Luke was standing under the only light there was in the room. The fixture was mounted below a ceiling fan. The blades of the fan, spanning more than twelve feet, turned slowly, casting their shadows onto the high ceiling. Joseph looked up and saw the shadows dancing in a circle, turning the opposite way of the blades. Joseph knew this was impossible; it must be some kind of optical illusion.
Luke followed the boy’s gaze upward, “I never have figured that one out.” He said.
“That one? What do you mean?” Joseph asked.

“The Library has many enigmas…riddles. Some can be solved, if you scratch your head long enough. Others stubbornly wear the name mystery.” Luke paused, turning he made a complete circle, “I gave up on most of those, ‘Even the mystery that has been hid from ages and from generations.’ to quote one of my favorite authors.” He mused.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Four Hundred Nights

Four Hundred Nights
by J Hirtle

Four hundred nights have fallen since I first prayed to you
Each night with knowledge of the cancerous centaur
Growing within my core

Four hundred nights listening for your answer
Searching the worn and thinning pages of scripture
On a quest to find your promises

“Do not fear”, you said,
“For I am with you”

I searched the darkness for you
I stretched my hands
Grasping for your promises

I opened my heart
Aware of your faithfulness
Desperately setting aside fear
But Fear would not let go

Four hundred nights have carried my prayers
I tried to believe you were listening

Four hundred nights displayed the prayers of others
That you brought into my life
I wanted to believe you heard each one

I longed to know your faithfulness was present
Even when mine vanished into the blackness

You said you would “strengthen” me
Yet I am so weak

I wanted to hear you whisper in my ear
Yet I only hear the raspy cries of the centaur
With each new pain
Small or vast
He declares misgivings

Anger rises up like the phoenix
The villainous chorus sings
“Where is your God now?”

In the confines of the night
I did not know if it was my voice
Or theirs that sang these words

Night gives way to morning
The world awakens
"He is God!"
The mountains cry
  
Four hundred nights have carried your words
From the twilight they called to me
“Do not be anxious,”
“For I am your God”

With each passing moment
Your words remained true
You guided the hands of the surgeon
As they violated the centaur

You guided the care givers that administered the elixir
Along the crimson highways
Attacking that which remained of the sprawling monster
Lulling it to sleep
Until the day you call me home

And yet you knew the “We Care People”
Are measured by the gold they seek
And you made ways to satisfy their hunger
When I could not

The scriptures sing your words
“The Lord is the one that goes before you”
Make way my Lord, I cried
Let me know your faithfulness

Four hundred nights have passed
All of me exhausted
Yet through your promises
Tonight a roof remains over my head
My cupboards testify of your ministry

Four hundred nights
You remained with me

I pray now
But my words have changed

I pray now
That my faith will be as yours
Pure and true
Forever
Amen


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