Sanctuary by Rhonda Slater

[Rhonda Slater]

I speak of the words that I heard
Whispered from You as I pray,
“You are my treasure,”
I hear in my sleep.

Love enlightens me,
Beginning and the end in life, and the middle
I stare up at the ceiling
Having recited my Lord's Prayer.

I tell You things that I have never said to others
My love, my salvation, my body,

My heart and my spirit
Surrendering to You.

I pray that I can tell your story to
Glorify You
Hearing nothing but muted silence
Outside my enclosed doorway.

Murmuring TV doesn't bother my soul
Perceiving a tree in my head, skeletal in winter
Awaiting the buds of spring
To burst forward soon.

Fruit will be born of Your Love,
Your Mercy and Grace
Your eternal candle lit Within Me
Purple flame fanning out, delightful and full.

I call out for your effulgence
Like I did many years ago
Staring up at my ceiling, Glowing Peace
Not wanting others in desperation, like I did before.

Unhaunted, undaunted by denial of the flesh
Just you and I, you in me
And my smile beaming at you within
The truth in me becomes reality as I read Your words once more.



Your Poetry spun like a web inside my very being
And I feel Freer than I ever had even trapped in that web
For I know one day we'll walk on the ocean
And I smile at you, my love.

The Only One who freed me from Bad slumber and hateful silence,
Phantoms of the past that never wanted to leave
Until You taught me to sweep them away like dust
And freed me to be the unblemished Lamb, once again.