Day's World

“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Benjamin Franklin: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” (1787)

The Constitution

In this land’s law, the Constitution is
Supreme, the highest law, authority
To which state courts and constitutions are
Subordinate, north, south, and sea to sea.

When We the People formed this government,
We emphasized the people’s right to rule,
Not Kings and Queens, with ways we could amend
The Constitution, the foundation, tool

In People’s hands not to be lightly changed,
A tool requiring constant vigilance
To keep the Union and establish Justice,
Keep peace at home, provide for our defense,

Promote the common Welfare, and secure
Liberty’s Blessings to ourselves and our
Posterity; and as no man is pure,
We formed three branches to check and balance power.

Stand for free speech, free press, the right to teach
Your child of lovingkindness and God’s kingdom;
The right to use your guns, so Tyranny
Won’t march you to a grave as a naked thing.

The power structure can’t infringe on rights
Of people to petition Government
To redress grievances, or to assemble
Peaceably to declare their discontent.

You can’t be forced to house a soldier, or,
If you are jailed, to pay excessive bail,
Or to relinquish worship of the Lord,
Or to lose work because you read in Braille.

Don’t let the government inside your home
Unless police have warrants in their hands;
You need not testify against your own
Self; Government must pay to take your lands.

You have the right to have a lawyer plea
Your case, protect your rights, and keep you free;
You have the rights to jury trial and
To counsel even if you can’t pay fees.

The warden cannot punish you with cruel,
Strange punishment–you’re not his chump or fool,
And you retain your right to worship God
And freely speak, within a prison’s rules.

The Feds must honor rights of fifty States
To legislate for citizens as they
Deem best, and people and the States retain
More rights than what the Bill of Rights contains.

The Government must honor equal rights
And Law’s due process for the citizens,
And courts interpret laws with oversight,
Enforcing rights of women, children, and men.

Keep this Republic, which is based upon
The Holy Bible and the Constitution,
And disregard connivers, cranks and cons
Who peddle hollow claims of new solutions.

The Founders knew about deceitful hearts,
How men and women mean well but go wrong,
And they relied on people to give thanks,
Seek wisdom, and obey the Lord, who’s strong.

~Day Williams

How to Make a Poem

Of many ways to make a poem, let
Me tell you one: First, you ignore the phones
(A habit you acquire when you’re in debt);
And second, you write letters to your foes

And tell them how their hatred helped you grow
And bloom; third, you wiggle thumbs and toes
Behind a light and draw the silhouettes
On walls which run with beads of jogger sweat.

You are not done. You rip your four-room heart
From chest and focus through a microscope
To know for whom it beats, and why, and where.

For forty days behold great works of art.
Then take a pen or pencil hooked to hope
And faith and love, and write about your cares.

~Day Williams

Youtube Shrink

I’m here for free, your youtube shrink
Expert in modern doublethink
You drive your people to the brink
Your armor has a host of chinks

You didn’t sing all words to a song
You’re neurologically wrong
My manual says you meet each prong
And you’re demented as King Kong

I am the shrink
In one look I know
That you can’t think
And have to go

Criteria in DSM
Says you are ill in your brain stem
See specialists in businessmen
Then take a trip to Bethlehem

I went for th’other candidate
Because you harbor too much hate
CNN tells me you’re third-rate
And you have too much body weight

I am the shrink
In one look I know
That you can’t think
And have to go

Political views make no diff
I can interpret hieroglyphs
I recommend you take a skiff
To Grand Canyon and jump off a cliff

And when you’re gone I’ll diagnose
Your family from feet to nose
I’ll judge your son by highs and lows
I’ll judge your wife by model clothes

I am the shrink
In one look I know
That you can’t think
And have to go

~Day Williams

Ephesians Chapter Six

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord,

For this is right The first commandment with

A promise is this: ² “Honor both your father

And mother, ³ that it may go well with you

And that you may enjoy long life on earth.”

⁴ Fathers, do not exasperate your children;

Instead, raise them up in the training and

Instruction of the Lord. ⁵ You slaves,

Obey your earthly masters with respect

And fear, and with sincerity of heart,

Just as you would obey Christ. ⁶Work hard

For them not only when your masters are

Watching, but also when they aren’t; work hard

With gladness all the time as slaves of Christ,

Not slaves of men, ⁷ and do the will of God

With all your hearts⁸ because you know that for

The good things which a man may do, the Lord

Will bless him, whether he is slave or free.

⁹ And masters, treat your slaves in the same way.

Don’t threaten them; remember that you too

Are slaves of Christ, who has no favorites.

¹⁰ Lastly, be strong in God and his great power

¹¹ Put on all of the armor of the Lord

So you can take your stand against the devil’s

Schemes,¹² for we do not wrestle flesh and blood,

But wrestle principalities and powers,

Rulers of darkness in this world, and we

Wrestle the wicked spirits in high realms.

¹³So put on all the armor of the Lord,

So when the day of evil comes, you’ll stand

Your ground, and after you’ve done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Therefore stand firm, your waist buckled ‘round with

The belt of truth, and having on the breastplate

Of righteousness, ¹⁵ and your feet fitted with

The preparation of the gospel of

Peace; ¹⁶ above all, take up the shield of faith

To smother all the flaming arrows of

The evil one, ¹⁷ and take the helmet of

Salvation and the Spirit’s sword, which is

The word of God, ¹⁸and pray always with all

Prayers and requests while in the Spirit.

With this in mind, remain alert and keep

On praying constantly for all the saints.

¹⁹ Pray for me, too, and ask the Lord to give

Me the right words as I speak boldly of

The mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I

Am an ambassador in chains. Pray that

I will declare it boldly, as I should.

²¹ So that you also may know how we are,

Tychicus, a beloved brother and

A faithful servant in the Lord, will tell

You everything. ²² I’m sending him to you

For this specific purpose, so that you

May know how we are getting on, and so

He may encourage you. ²³ May God give peace

To you, my brothers, with His love in faith

From God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁴ May God’s grace and His blessing be on all

Who love our Lord Jesus Christ and his call.

S.D.G.

***

(Psalm 141:2)
I’ll Lift My Hands
I’ll lift my hands
As sacrifice
In evening to
You, Jesus Christ.
#Gospel #Psalm #poetry

Death Has Died
The Son of God
Was crucified
And rose again,
So Death has died.
#Gospel #Jesus #poetry

(Psalm 20:1)
May God Reply
May God reply
To you when you
Are in distress
And feeling blue.
#Psalm #poetry

***

Sonnet 99

John, baptize me at River Jordan’s bank,
Pour Jesus’ cleansing water on my head.
May He, through Love, make white my sins so black
And I’ll be born again and by Him fed

For I have sunk as low as man can go
And only He can lift me up again
To walk the plan he set me long ago
Before I was conceived in lands of men.

My destiny, O Lord, is in thy hands;
To you I have entrusted heart and soul.
You are the God of gods who reigns forevermore . . .

Release me, Lord, from mortal flesh’s bands
And wash me, cleanse my spirit, make me whole,
Lord, let us work together at the core.

Sonnet 100 (Peter)

Sorrow and joy were mixed at suppertime:
He washed my feet but said that I’d betray
Him. “Never,” I said, “that would be a crime.”
We’d been together from the start, the day

He called me from the nets. “You will, three times,
Before the cock crows,” he went on. “Come pray
Inside Gethsemane with me.” Now I’m
A zealous man, but God formed me from clay.

He had to wake me when the torch lights came.
I drew my sword, slashed off an ear, he healed
It, soldiers took him. Down the trail I crept

To fireside warmth. Three times they asked – no game–
And I denied three times. Long gone, that meal.
The cock crew. I went out and wept and wept.

***