The Diner

I pull into the diner and turn the keys back

Hunch over the wheel and breathe a deep sigh

The place is decked in silver and red

An ode to an era that has long passed by

"Please wait to be seated" the sign reads

Armed with a menu she guides me to a booth

She's older than I, but still quite young

She fakes a smile without showing a tooth

I should have coffee in a place like this

But I've never liked it so why start now?

There's only two others in the whole place

But I hardly take notice as I furrow my brow

Life's not any different than it was yesterday

So why am I trapped in a melancholy mood?

This place seems to mirror my exact feelings

As if in the leaves of my loneliness it was brewed

The women of the shift move unceasingly

Nothing is accomplished in their plenteous work

Their constant chittering babble only adds

To the depth of the interminable murk

This restaurant stands for a time past

Before sexual revolutions and various movements

But really, that time was no different

I still would have yearned for vast self-improvements

I cannot find myself sitting in this booth

Nor can I find myself feeding the poor

But, I think, I must wait 'til the celestial city

After passing through Death's dark door

Then, there, standing next to the Savior

Will be the man I've always wished to be

This world is too broken and this flesh

O! this flesh how it weighs upon me

But He's given me this part to play

Twisted as I am by evil desire

I will tell others the Story of Truth

Subtle or loud as an old town crier

My meal consumed with much indifference

I have spent the time deep in this thought

I have had my arrangement askew

Straying too far I've become overwrought

Before it was Savior, but… loneliness

Now it reads Savior, Lord of the Heavenly Host

Jesus is mine, I call Him by name

By His work I'm indwelled with the Holy Ghost

Relief, relief. But I'd done it again

Worked myself up and begun to doubt

When it starts with me it will go south

And I always question what God's about

I get up from the booth and pay the bill

Slowly stroll back to the awaiting car

Burger and fries is what I paid for

What I got is worth more than a Hollywood star

I turn the keys over and pull out of the diner

Hunch over the wheel and breathe a deep sigh

I'm glad to have such a wonderful Savior

One who's promised never to pass me by

Unnamed Guilt

I'm lying upon the familiar bed

A life's worth of thoughts besieging my head

Pain rooted deep in my heart

The blackness has enveloped body and mind

Shapes impossible to distinguish kind from kind

I'm confused as to my role or part

Reflecting on the day I could have done better

Accomplished more, held the law to the letter

Now I see pride has had its way

For it's not in my ability to attain perfection

Now I hear an old, old voice in the softest inflection

"Listen, once again, to what I have to say."

"It's not you, my son, who carries the world

Where is this 'drain' down which you've swirled?

You're becoming a man just as planned"

"Don't worry about who you were before

I love you completely, do you need any more?

No one can pry you from my hand"

So there in the black, surrounded by gloom

Where a minute before was all encompassing doom

I lay my head on the Savior's breast

Grace is a thing not readily understood

For I'd try to earn His love, if ever I could

But by His wounds I have eternal rest