Oh for patience and moments prolonged

Oh for patience and moments prolonged
Of ere uncertain longings and ballads unsung
Where words yet wander through the caverns
Of my mind
Where oh faith can I find

Hope for which all doubts disolve
Come and cure this divided heart
Where oh grace can comfort
This broken man
Where oh love
Can fill

For all desires true or ill
Twould waken in me
Through all of life

In trial in toil
Oft do they boil
Up within me
Till the testing
Comes complete

Oft in these times
My soul cries out
"Where oh faith
Can thee be found
Where oh wisdom
Doth thou abound"

For oft hath my heart
Plummeted aground
And there doth my
Sorrow and prayers
Enshroud

Oh grace can comfort
The coldest of hearts
Oh love to break through
The deepest of caverns

Warmth this chilling
Illing to the bone
Where long this suffering
And longing to be home

Yet home for where
Hath never known
Save mercy
Alone

If at last may find
Oh joy be kind
For this soul
Doth long

Oft in sorrow
Oft ere long
Yet stir in me
Thy wakening song

And sing thy praise
Through all the
Dark of days

That soon the dawn
Of joy may rise
And open these eyes
To life anew

Out from the grave
Of darkness bind
And come oh mercy
Come and find

Restore this heart
Ere tattered and part
From me mine former ways

That all my days
May sing thy praise
Till home at last
My soul
Should rise
And sing no more
Of death's reprise

-Joshua Lee Foist

In constant battle

In constant battle
Back and forth
The elusive downward
Spiral untangled
And caught

Were all my strength
For not
Ah to be
In that place

Fresh springs of grace
Surround
Upon the cool ground
To rest in this quiet place

Seems miles away
From this path I know
Though the thought of it
Oft do I go

Oh that one day
It may steal me away
And never to return
To this quicksand

For heart and hand
For eyes that may see
Without a doubt
Free and faultless

Oh can it be
May it yet
Come to me

When at last
To know eternity
With thee
Forever joy
Shall it
Be

-Joshua Lee Foist

When shall we commune again

When shall we commune again
When shall the desires of men
Cease to always remain
Only for their own gain

When might we desire
A life of richness beyond
The trivial treasures of earth
When shall we desire each other's worth

When shall we once more exchange
A common desire to be known
Beyond our superficial longings
When shall our desires lie outside ourselves

When shall we once more seek
To love and serve
Those who do not desire
Yet simply for love's sake alone

When shall we once more give
All that we are complete
When shall we at last admit defeat

When we fall at thy master's feet

How many shall seek their own way

How many shall seek their own way
How many shall waste the day
On fortunes that waste away
Before the dark of day

How many shall seek to find
That which will not endure
How many shall yet implore
The wisdom of this world

While all the while
They live in denial
Of what stands before
How long must wisdom wait

How long before their eyes shall see
How long until their youth shall flee
When will their hearts be changed
To know the love that won't let go

-Joshua Lee Foist

Of once an air of innocence did in me reside

Of once an air of innocence did in me reside
Yet now the fog so thick hath enshrouded
And oft my mind so clouded
Canst scarce recall a time at all

Too long have I been caught
In the cords of this deception
My own perception so is skewed
That oft I fear I am pursued

My fears so oft arise
I dare not lift my head
To gaze perchance
The haze might lift

So long the cords hath entangled
I oft desired they would have strangled
The life that scarce remains in me
A hell from which I cannot flee

Does mercy yet remain for those as me
Can love yet be found for one to free
Oh to cool my brow with but a drop of grace

Oh but to trace the path back to such a time
When I new not a crime
How to find a joy so real

But ah to taste
Ah to feel
The thrill of life anew
To dance in the dew of that dream

Hope may it yet rise again
To open deep these gaping wounds
And fill with all its warmth
Though pain at first must endure

The path to life is sure
The way grows stronger yet
When at last thy help hath come

-Joshua Lee Foist

Why thy love hath awakened me

Why thy love hath awakened me
Though oft my heart hath forsaken thee
Tis not save sure thy work alone
Hath sought me for thy own

In such a love as this
Though I should betray
With a kiss
Thy love tis more than this

Thy love that bore my shame
Thy love that took the blame
Thy love in weakness and pain
Hath captured me

When my heart was cold
Thy love so bold did break
This heart of stone
And make it for thine own

When home seemed
Far from me
Thy love embraced
When all others disgraced

When love seemed
A mere ideology
Thou showed me
Grace without
Apology

If such a love as this
Can yet remain
What ere is there to gain
Save to tremble
In i'ts pain

For love went beyond the grave
That all for one might it save
Love brought me from the depths of hell
And saved me from it's cruel spell

Love brought me home
To a life I'd never known
Yet all my life had dreamt
When at last I did repent

Thy love alone
Did save
And now none other
Do I so desire

For thou hast
Given me life anew
For all I desire
I desire you

-Joshua Lee Foist

Love how hast thou been

Love how hast thou been
So oft thee seem a trinket
Brought out into the world of men
Upon such a day as this

Wherefore thy grandeur
And thy sweet bouquet
Tis none to be seen
For those who are keen

Yet for all thy ways
They are but simple
For they appear as commonplace
To a world who will only flaunt thy thrills

They have forgotten thy ways most true
They are not grandly or prominently displayed

For thy ways are but kind
They are not self seeking
They seek the good of others
Thy service hath been long unknown

For it glamours not in its own
But in the lives of others shown
Thy deeds of grace
Can ever trace

For all the sands of time
Thy hands hath known
For love in truth
Is a sacrifice

It gives all for one alone
That such glory may be
Richly shown

That those who have lost their way
May in time come to find
The true and distant path

Thy ways reveal a life beyond
A hope beyond this broken waste
Where love anew doth sprout
It's dew upon the wakened earth

-Joshua Lee Foist