I have now added a Writings page to the blog. You can find the Writings tab at the top of the blog just to the right of the Stats tab. This page will collect various writings that I have produced over the years – articles, poems, songs, etc. (Maybe I will even get around to posting my doctoral thesis here some day – a guaranteed cure for insomnia!) Right now I just have a few poems posted, but this is an area of the blog that I would like to develop in the future.

I found this poem earlier today at the WorldMag Blog. Very touching.

“THEY SIT TOGETHER ON THE PORCH” – by Wendell Berry

They sit together on the porch, the dark
Almost fallen, the house behind them dark.
Their supper done with, they have washed and dried
The dishes–only two plates now, two glasses,
Two knives, two forks, two spoons–small work for two.
She sits with her hands folded in her lap,
At rest. He smokes his pipe. They do not speak,
And when they speak at last it is to say
What each one knows the other knows. They have
One mind between them, now, that finally
For all its knowing will not exactly know
Which one goes first through the dark doorway, bidding
Goodnight, and which sits on a while alone.

Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is offering the commemorative book, Sitting by My Laughing Fire, by Ruth Bell Graham, free of charge for the asking.

Ruth’s love for the written word and her devotion to family and God often flowed together. Of this collection of her poems, Ruth Bell Graham wrote, “I have always loved poetry. … [These poems] span nearly half a century of living, beginning with a thirteen-year-old’s impression of the ever-present graves in China, through high school in Korea, college in America, early love poems, marriage and motherhood, and on up.”

We are pleased to offer—at no charge—this classic volume of her poetry, chosen and assembled by Ruth herself. It is our prayer that you will encounter all of Ruth’s passion for words, friends, family, and her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ within its pages.

Just follow this link to order: Ruth Bell Graham – Commemorative Book

HT: Eclexia

Note: For samples of Ruth’s poetry, see Ruth Bell Graham – Poems.

Update 1: The poem Ruth wrote at 13 about the man she would someday marry is found in comment #4 below.

Update 2: The poem “Home Address” has been added to the comments below.

Update 3: Free commemorative book of Ruth’s poems – click here for more information.

Noel Piper shares the following poems from Ruth Graham over at the Desiring God blog. They are both from Ruth’s book Footprints of a Pilgrim.

The first poem is about choosing to love through the difficult times when Billy would have to leave her and the children to go on the road.

Love
without clinging;
cry
if you must—
but privately cry;
the heart will adjust
to the newness of loving
in practical ways:
cleaning
and cooking
and sorting out clothes,
all say, “I love you,”
when lovingly done.

So—
love
without clinging;
cry—
if you must—
but privately cry;
the heart will adjust
to the length of his stride,
the song he is singing,
the trail he must ride,
the tensions that make him
the man that he is,
the world he must face,
the life that is his.

So
love
without clinging;
cry—
if you must—
but privately cry;
the heart will adjust
to being the heart,
not the forefront of life;
a part of himself,
not the object—
his wife.

So—
love!

The second poem is about losing a loved one and reflects what the Graham family must be experiencing right now with the loss of Ruth.

A house
is not the same
when she who made it home
is gone;
it looks
as it has always
looked
and yet
forlorn.
There is an emptiness
within,
a silence
where her chuckle was.
From now on
it is me alone
who once was “us.”

Related articles:

• Billy Graham – The Song
• A Quote from Billy and a Quote from Ruth
• Ruth Graham Passes Away
• Billy Graham Museum Opens in Charlotte, NC
• The Day I Met Billy Graham

This little ditty popped into my head the other night while walking from the kitchen to the bedroom. I don’t know where it came from, so I can’t give it back. By the time I reached the bedroom it was finished, so I recited it for my wife. She liked it, so I posted it here.

“THE MAGIC DRESSER” (A Poem for Mother’s Day) – by Ray Fowler

I have a magic dresser; it has a magic drawer.
I take my clean clothes out of it and then go back for more.
I only take things out of it; I never put them in.
But every time I open it, my clothes are clean again.
I don’t know why this happens; I’m not sure how it works.
But if I forget my wife on Mother’s Day, I must really be a jerk!

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Click here for more Poems by Ray Fowler.
Click here for more Random Thoughts.

Here is a poem I wrote for Easter a number of years ago. I hope you enjoy it, and I wish you a very happy Easter!

“EASTER” – by Ray Fowler

Weave a crown of thorns; spit on love incarnate;
Stretch his flesh against the splintered surface and
Strike the nail’s head. Crushed for our sins,
The Savior breathes ever slower.

Breath of Spirit pierces the tomb’s dark chamber;
Blinding flash illumines the corpse now rising,
Standing, dancing, joyfully living love for
Those who had slain him.

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Click here for technical notes on the poem “Easter.”
Click here for more poems by Ray Fowler.

Here is a poem for Good Friday.

“GOOD FRIDAY” – by Christina G. Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky.
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

______________________________________________________________

(Note: Christina Rossetti is perhaps best known for her Christmas poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter”.)

Click here for Good Friday Poems by George Herbert.
Click here for A Wintry Sonnet by Christina Rossetti.
Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.