June/July 2009: Poetry by Francis Fike Dunetracks
The tracks here left behind
Are easy now to find.
Winding from dune to dune.
Wind will erase them soon:
The sand, made smooth again,
Will dimple in the rain.
Near pines ignore the passage,
Yet footprints leave a message
Along the beachgrass rim--
Proof of a walker's vim
That says a passerby
Went out to see the sky
And smell the fragrant scents
Of woodland elements
And watch a crow or two
Taking the airway through
And find the hiked-for end
Around the next dune-bend--
The lake and beach, beside
The waves' incoming tide.
Hymn to the Holy Spirit
Where are the flames of Pentecost
Your power lit that day,
Sending the Apostles to the lost
With Good News of the Way?
Send Rushing Wind and Fire again:
Rekindle ancient zeal;
Impress upon us now as then
Your sanctifying seal.
Those to whom matter matters most
Place hope in property;
Keep us, O wiser Holy Host,
From such idolatry.
O Holy Fire of Pentecost,
Spirit of God's Desire,
Instruct us what to value most;
Kindle in us that Fire.
May flame that led the Israelite
From cruel Egyptian grip--
A pillar of fire on Sinai height--
So guide our desert trip.
Descend upon us shadowed here
As all around us rise
Forces of hatred and of fear
And skeptical surmise.
Comforter, come not just to ease
But move and reassure;
Come to discomfort, not to please.
Thus freed from what we were,
Inspired and lifted as we pray
To levels of your will,
If we should wander from the Way,
Remain Companion still.
Francis Fike is professor emeritus of English at Hope College in Holland,
Michigan and is former poetry editor of Perspectives.
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