Tis Times Like These That Try One's Patience

Tis times like these that try one's patience
When the many trivialities of life seem to be on the rise
Surely all is not as it ought to be
Yet in such moments one finds all passions for protest declined

What strength is there found in this
When all efforts are futile and foolish
The inopportunity causes a void within
To pause and consider the interests of men

Yea many are self-conceited and vain
And have little if nothing to gain
For pride is a fortified city of trust
Built by its own ambitions and wills

Yet for all its thrills
Once offered then
Canst hide itself from
Its arrogant sin

For trust in oneself
Becomes one's undoing
If all its pursuing
Is only itself

And when that must cease
At last shall come peace
Yet not without a cost
And a sacrifice made

For humility must come
If anything is to be done
There's hope still in view
If this fragile soul would
But gain a clue

For all is not made
By one's own hands
But by one who formed them
For His own plans

And wise is the man
Who knows it when young
For time hath a way
Of making one dumb

-Joshua Lee Foist

Of these unpleasant days

Of these unpleasant days
When ill forgotten thoughts
Come to graze

Twas once far off
And lost at sea
In a world
Of my own imagining

Yet the ache of life
At last reborn
The scorn within
My head adorn

This sin and shame
I bear once more
The youth of me
Again returns

And hearts that yearn
To be as then
Now fixed as now
In this forgotten place

A dream a dream
Twas once of thee
Of beauty and serenity
When hope did long

Upon thy every song
Where poems did lie
Of thy one desire

Retire the thoughts
Of yesteryear
To fear they may
Ne'er come again

Why waste this life
On broken dreams
Should cast them from
Thy idle mind

And find thy faith
Amidst thy fallen way
May come today
May come awhile yet still

Though all the thrill
Has fled and gone
Still look upon

The endless pool
The mind a fool
Did torture and rule

No more shall be
Cast doubt and fear
And all despair

For one is there
Who knows all pain
Hath bore it too
And more than you

Shall carry thee
Thine own
Depravity

Into that all forsaken land
And pull thee through
To wonders thee never knew

A world of hope
That lies ahead
That trusts

Thy tender touch
Doth comfort all
From sorrows great
And small

-Joshua Lee Foist

There are but days

There are but days
To throw this mad facade
Away twould be yet still
A pleasant mystery

If to be gone
From this great old world
Where tomorrows never done
For the days are but begun

Truth reveals the lies
That oft hide between the eyes
And show them for who
The me and you really are

So cast away
This shooting star
To shine down upon
The earth afar

Below shall we yet know
There is a light
That shines
Across the darkened night

Oh to but sing
Of thy joys shall bring
When all is as it truly
Should be

Shall see shall see
We when gone the worries
From them shall flee

And fade from our view
When just a world
Of you

All bright and new
This glorious
Road ahead

The path untread
Of where we'll be
Eternity

And most grand
Twill be
In thy long lost
Love

At rest and peace
From all strife and shame
When at last shall welcome us
By name

-Joshua Lee Foist

I'm caught tween the crossroads of faith and desire

I'm caught tween the crossroads of faith and desire
My heart's on a wire
Which way should I choose
Where winds often blow
Or walk straight ahead 
Trusting this fine line of faith 
Will hold to the end 

The chasm is far
The way it is long
Far have I travelled
Yet much farther ahead

Oft are there days and nights that I wish
Twould glory yet take
And rush me away

Yet steady still steady
On must I go
Though faltering and failing
Barely prevailing
While hoping and praying
Twill make it 
Yet still

For oft in doubt
One hope is sure
My guide before me
Ere going the way
Steady and sure
His way it is pure 

Still my heart
Doth wander
From one to another
My dreams and desires
Divided within

For a love or a friend
To be faithful and true
Though tried and tempted
Oft as I do
I hope still hope
For one day
You

For deep in my soul
I know it is true
A dream a desire
To one day retire

To rest from this work
To cease from this toil
Where rivers are wide
And mountains for miles
Home lies beyond
The pastures and plains

The seasons remain
All pleasant
And full

So rich are their bounties
That blossom and bloom
A world without end
A garden of rest

-Joshua Lee Foist

When all such earthly treasures shall cease

When all such earthly treasures shall cease
Let this callous heart rejoice
For all such sorrows soon shall end
Yea leave them by the river bend

For all thy work and breath do bear
The blame of thine own selfish gain
So cast it to the farthest shore
Come kneel before thy blessed king

For in his eyes
Holds everything
For all tomorrow's days to come
Knows he every one

For he hath formed them
By his own hand
And hath restored
That which once
Had fled

And now by him
Once dead
Now alive forevermore
And surely shall remain

He who bore the pain
And bore the loss
Of his own son
Hath come hath come
To give life to everyone

That they may cast all earthy things aside
And in him always only abide

-Joshua Lee Foist

There are days as these

There are days as these
Where all the world around
Seems but a distant tune
Echoing oft and far
From this mind of me

The voices trail in and out
But I hear little of what they talk about
How much is really seen or heard

Do they know the word
On which my tongue is pressed
Is it clear or far from them
As they are from me

So oft I seem but lost in this haze
Where moments of time
Turn to endless days

When shall it cease
When shall it cease
When shall come
That pleasant peace

All seems quiet
And distant here
A world in all of disconnect
And I am one
A part of it

So what now
Shall come of this
When to return
And what to discern
In this

Perchance all of life
Tis lost in momentry bliss
All is lost and all is gained

For that which remains
Is true is pure
But only to be sure
Only to be

To be as one
Caught in the rays of sun
Full and bright
To only and always
Walk in its light
Till ere the waking day

-Joshua Lee Foist

Canst look I beyond the quickening ray of light

Canst look I beyond the quickening ray of light
That for which awaken me from dark of night
To that which once seemed tis gone
Lost somewhere amidst the wrong and right

All cannot be seen so clearly
For that which is in plain sight
Oft eludeth me, so oft eludeth me

My mind is twisted in itself
Conjured in its own imaginings
For happy meetings and bitter betrayals

Yea still love prevails
Still love avails much
In a heart that trusts
That hopes one day

What may yet lie ahead
Cannot be fed by sorrow and dread
Still hope ahead is rooted sure

In a heart that pure and true
Longing always and only for you
What ere the day may bring
What ere the night should sing

This one thing, this one thing remains
Faith, Hope, and Love
And longing for Thee above

-Joshua Lee Foist