Bruce Barone

birchlane

Bruce Barone

Home

Sara Lando

Allyson Kalea Boggess

R. Gerald Dressen

The First Poem (note: this is a "place-holder" for a real poem)

Outside, the choir is singing--

This is the day the Lord had made.

It's a glad song. Everyone's clapping.

--an unknown poet

An angel with soft, heavy arms falls

To me, in my arms calls to me

"Do you accept Jesus Christ

As you personal Lord and Savior?"

I whisper in her ear so only she can hear;

"Every Sunday in church we recite:

We believe in you, O God, Eternal Spirit

God of our Savior Jesus Christ

And our God, and to your deeds we testify:

You call the worlds into being,

Create persons in your own image

And set before each one the ways of life and death.

You seek in holy love to save

All people from aimlessness and sin.

You judge people and nations by your righteous will

Declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth,

Our crucified and risen Savior,

You have come to us and shared

Our common lot, conquering sin and death

And reconciling the world to yourself.

You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit

Creating and renewing

The church of Jesus Christ

Binding in covenant faithful people

Of all ages, tongues, and races.

You call us

Into your church to accept

The cost and joy of discipleship

To be your servants in the service

Of others, to proclaim

The gospel to all the world and

Resist the powers of evil,

To share in Christ's baptism and eat

At his table, to join

Him in his passion and victory.

You promise to all who trust you

Forgiveness of sins

And fullness of grace,

Courage in the struggle for justice

And peace, your presence

In trial and rejoicing,

And eternal life

In your realm which has no end.

Blessing and honor,

Glory and power

Be unto you. Amen."

Some Sundays after prayer

I wonder why I am

Not like Alfred Barone, born

In Salerno, Italy

Of noble parentage, at an early age

Turned to religion

Stoned, imprisoned, he was

Almost burned at the stake

Nonetheless, with the help God,

He was able to give birth to many

Protestant missions and churches

Throughout Italy and later

In America where he preached

The Gospel and established missions

In Haverhill, in Springfield,

In Monson, in Stamford.

Yes I have sinned angel

You who has never witnessed

Evil or selfishness, "take me

To the river, drop me

In the river, push me

In the water, washing me

Down, washing me"

Yes angel all this is

Exaggerated but didn't he

Say I exaggerate to tell the truth

Who what where when why.

Chapter I, Verse I: The Word.

Will you walk with me

Before the darkness overtakes us

Before, before she never comes

Ever since my mother died

I believe in nothing, sometimes

I'm called back but

Years later I see her still here

In the way I see you angel

Mom Mom I see you

Mom Mom wave to me

Please, on the river's edge, peace

I am a priest acting

In a Bergman movie

In the beginning was the word

I cannot understand

Take me to the river

Drown me in the river

He says and he is

Lifted up out of the water

Into a dream carried

On a wooden platform

Angel, he says

Where are we going, she says

Not there, it is only

Dreaming, angel why is

Pain easier, why angel do you

Mean it is more difficult

To love, reading fossilized prayers

My body breaks, cracks

Like thousands of vibrating atoms

Into nothingness into

The earth where I planted

The milkweed it is pain

Singing a quiet hurtful song

Swells from the earth below

If I knew how to sing

If I knew how to talk

If I knew how to believe

If I knew you angel to be

Real, here, with me, I walk

On water, in this dream

She carried Tolstoy's book and cried in the motel

Bathroom where crying happens, for months

We had been learning and writing

And by May or June her eyes

Perfect and perfect memory

Haunts in a tiled room eyes bleed

Red

Bloodshot

black sky

Clear water

Red

White

Where

It is

Burning

This way of seeing, light

From a constellation, blinding

While I waited halfway across

The country searching the stars and the sky

For that tearful sign, I called out in the dark wet haze

Leo, Capricorn, Orion you who

Are never there, again when I

Look I see roses blooming

In the backyard, memory tells me

This, her sigh pictures a landscape

In another life

The mystic tells me

I am a priest

Who are you

Call me call me

You who

Are all

Ways there

dot dot

dot dash dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot dash, dot

dash dot dash dash

Call me call me

You who

Are

There

dot dot dot dot, dot, dot dash dot dot, dot dash dash dot

Me call

Please

Answer

Me love

Me call

You who

dot dash dot dot, dash dash dash , dot dot dot dash, dot

Me you Angel

Bring love

Love love love

All there is love

Love is all there is and

Where are we

Tell me a story, please

Forgive me, I want

To believe, I want

To burn with love

With belief, with you

Searching for the answer