Jacob gritted his teeth as a whip slashed across his back.

"No lagging, slave!'

He bent and pulled another rock from the pile in front of him. Straightening up, he walked as fast as he could with it to an ever-growing rock wall. He placed his stone carefully into a space in the wall and plastered it in with clay. He paused for a moment to wipe sweat from his eyes, and was rewarded by another whip slash on his back.

"No stoppin'! Back to work!"

Chapter One: Gathering~Joel

 

“Joel, where are you? Joel, I need you to set out the plates before everyone else arrives.”  The voice of my mother, Elizabeth, floated down the hall. “I’m expecting at least fifty people for the efrat, and you know how Eliana and Amad’s family eats.”

I slid my flute into a case hidden under my cloak before lazily shuffling to the kitchen. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

I haven't written in a long time  (but am trying desperately to start again!) So this is a poem I wrote in late 2007.

We're in this place

Of blinding things

We're in disgrace

We have clipped His wings

Lost in this crowd

Of sinful, earthly people

I'm screaming so loud

They are burning Your steeple

 

Show us

True life

Glorious

Save Your wife

 

To watch her walk so staggeredly towards the filling room

Tears now swelling my eyes as she stumbles to the Groom

Normal 0

One: Just out of reach.

For the affect I search, search wide search deep

So incomplete.

Perfect flaws, scars seep,

Just out of reach.

Black birds fly soar high,

Just out of reach.

 

For the feel I search, search wide search deep

So incomplete.

Anxiety stalls, stops quick,

Bravery just out of reach.

The life in need of saving

Just out of reach.

 

For the words I search, search wide search deep

So incomplete.

Chapter Twenty-Two:

 

Three Years Later

            Jeffrey sighed. “Oh, I have so much to learn, Elspeth.”

            Elspeth, in her quiet and gentle manner, slipped her hand into his and looked up at him. “Then let us learn together,” she said.

            “Aye, we must.” He agreed. “Together, the two of us, and the Creator.”

            She let her head fall onto his shoulder. “It will be hard, but good.”

Mournful howls slice the night’s stillness. I huddle against my King’s robe, shivering in the spring air. My gaze darts back and forth, searching for gleaming green eyes.

“They won’t attack me,” he states. “As long as you stay with me, you’re perfectly safe.”

Hundred of phantom beetles crawl down my spine. My stomach churns like a stormy sea. Snap! A branch cracks.

I whirl towards the sound. Another twig snaps, then a third, till the night is filled with thunderous echoes.

After this, there's just one more chapter and the epilogue... which will be posted before I leave for the states at the end of June!

Chapter Twenty-One:

“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” Donagh said jovially as the tired band entered his bookstore. “Glad to see you again,” he said to Archie. “But you’ve doubled in size!”

“Aye, we have.” Archie grinned. “These are the two men we were asking you about – Jonathan, and Timothy – Kianna, Jeffrey, and Liam’s father. And this,” he said, gently pushing Elspeth forward. “Is Elspeth.”

**So the other night, I couldn't get to sleep...and finally I picked up my little scripture passage-a-day book.  I forget what exactly the passage was, but the words "Abide in Me" stuck out at me...and then this "prosy sort of poem" just came out of my fingers...and I guess my heart too. :)**

-

Alone with my failings
Alone in the night
I felt my heart
Beating
The rhythm it pulsed was one of sadness
And it spoke a language of loneliness

Alone with my failings
Alone in the night
I reached with my heart....