Category: Poetry
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A leaf speaks — from its birth in spring to its fiery farewell in autumn. Carried by the wind, it journeys far beyond the tree that once held it, discovering beauty in release and freedom in letting go. “I was the highest leaf” — a piece of musical poetry by Michael Appelt. I was the…
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“I Will Not Give You My Children” is a dramatic poem set to music — a litany of words naming greed, tyranny, deception, and despair, broken again and again by a single unyielding refrain: “I will not give you my children.” It is both lament and defiance, resistance and promise. A cry that innocence will…
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It is not a poem of answers, but of wounds — emptiness, hunger, illness, guilt, and mistrust — spoken in words pared down to their essence. It names the weight many of us carry, yet ends with the simple, stubborn act of rising again, and the haunting question: Who will lift me? The Poem of…
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How do we measure a wave when we are caught inside it? How do we measure a movement in our world — by its noise, its rules, or by what it leaves behind? This reflection weaves the storm on the Sea of Galilee, when the men in the boat saw Christ walking toward them, with…
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The Coin and the Kingdom — a chant-like poem inspired by Christ’s miracle of the coin in the fish. It weaves universal longings for peace and justice with wisdom from many traditions, and ends with my own choice to anchor my life in Christ. The Coin and the Kingdom What matters? Not the shouting in…
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There are moments when complaint feels easier than change. Yet deep within, the Spirit calls us beyond words of frustration into the quiet courage of faith, forgiveness, and surrender. Beyond Complaint is a musical poem that weaves images of rivers, seeds, and dawn with the story of Christ calming the storm. It is a meditation…
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Late summer carries a special kind of stillness—a time when the air feels unhurried,and the world seems to pause between what has beenand what is yet to come. In that stillness, I find myself waiting.The world often tells us that true freedom comes only later,perhaps with retirement, when the work is finally done.But as I…
Michael Appelt 