Upon this precipice lies

Upon this precipice lies
The wait and anxiest
I ere despise

Though canst close mine eyes
To the thought that here
Yet lies the hope

I so have longed
To take the leap
And let my fears

Awake in courage
As I trust the only hope
I have on earth or heav'n

Thy canopy of faith
Thy ways sure
So doubt in me

Dissolve in me
All that should hold
And make my ways bold

That in the breaking of my will
For all life's greatest thrill
Is found here

Upon the great barrier
Where no more
Dillusion has its day

For upon the gravity
And its pull
Thy design

Doth play it's role
And so bring me
To my knees

As once more
In surrender
I remember

Thy faithful
Hand doth hold
And makes me

What I cannot
In my own strength
Become

Till death become me
And life flow through me
When thou doth enter in

-Joshua Lee Foist

So now to sheer simplicity

So now to sheer simplicity
While I too oft am lost in stupidity
By mindless exercises
That waste the worth of me

My eye be one
On that which is unchanging
Thereby I be won
In that which is sure

My motives be pure
And pleasing to thee
And not aimlessly
Seeking

My purpose renew
Stay it true
Upon you

No other means I pursue
For one way to go
And steady on
By faith

For there thy grace
Enough shall lead
Endurance in me
May heed

Thy calling
Clear through
My Noise

And silence me
To cease
That in my storm
Find peace

So scatter all
Which would betray
And shower me
With blessings I pray

That this day
Enough shall do
That this day
You alone
Pursue

-Joshua Lee Foist

Now for grace in the face of this untangling web

Now for grace in the face of this untangling web
In sorrows of days before fed
In longing and loneliness dred
May joy sprout anew instead

May not the muggling mind
Mentor itself in it's cruel deceit
Yet may it in tribulation find
A hope outside itself

A hunger for that by which
It may retain and reclaim
Life within life
Hope and glory

Of this continuing story
May there be found
Gracious pardon
And forgiveness

Within and without
May tenderness come
May sorrows soften
And life begotten in this

No more to savor the former
And though striving for that
Which lies ahead
Also earnestly

Present with what is
Imperfect yet perfectly formed
Reconciled in body, mind, and soul
Without control yet surrender in full

For there lies the joy of being
Content in trial
And every way
While

Moment by moment
The measures of time
Are timelessly in
This

The wonder
The bliss
All shall be well
This great story

Of which we here tell
Is now is here
And shall evermore
Be

-Joshua Lee Foist