February Lamb

Today the grass and sky are shining
In perfect sunny hue
The land soaked clean by Winter's snow
And everything made new.

Today everyone is up and out
The breeze is bracing
Fresh and clean
The birds are busy in hedge and tree
While circling buzzards keen.

Remember this day of brand new life
Revealed from neath it's shroud
With it's promise of new beginnings
And mother of newborn proud

For March is round the corner
With temper hard and stern
Winter's ire has one last blast
Afore the seasons turn.

So when the gales and tempests roar
And the sky's fair face is marred
Remember the day you glimpsed this joy
And let is gladden your aching heart.



Written for my Niece, Dulcie "Hope"

Joe Morriss

Feb 2009

Beginning of March

There was a time when hope was in vain
It never ceased to freeze and rain
Sleet turned to ice and then back again

The barren womb of Winter lay
Forgotten by flower 
Untouched by sun's ray
The bare branch blew
Day after grey day

Then the season shifted
Certain changes came
The shelving of rich hearthside legends
The talk of many a muffled walk
Like the sap which surges through stem and stalk.

Like a sign of life
The sun shone that day
An emblem of the everlasting
Lambs leaping at your coming
The Lark signing its skyward longing.

With face as yet unseen
This spring-child comes
Yet we hear his heartbeat like distant drums
And though the hope of many dies
We face the day with faith filled eyes.

Joe Morriss

March 2008

Don't let them blow away

I walked out on a blowy day
I thought as I went along my way
At how the world is so full of people
Cars and houses too.
So many different clothes and faces
So many different colours and races

And then I felt a burden come
To know the meaning of this one
What am I, one man, to do
With so many souls
Just passing through?

So there I sat upon a bench
Until I thought my heart would wrench
I asked the Father to speak to me
What is my life supposed to be?

The the wind blew
Gusting strong
And all the leaves started racing along
They scurried and skipped
And danced and tripped

My thoughts were stirred
My gaze fixed upon
As if God had just
"where I blow....men follow along"
They have no choice but to live and then die,
To blow from here to where, and why?

In a lull, the wind abated
The rushing stopped, next gust awaited
A passer-by without asking why
Just stopped and picked up a tumbled leaf...
My heart skipped a beat
I leapt from my seat! 

Again the multitude raced by
And I quickly stopped one which caught my eye
Then I stumbled after the next
Gathering, laughing
Out of breath!

On and on they aimlessly raced
But I'd saved a few from an unknown place

To stop and hold these passing leaves
Brought great joy, at last, to me
I realised exactly what God would say
"These leaves are like souls...don't let them blow away".

Joe Morriss
2005

Day Close

Day Close

Turn and face the sunset if you dare.

Don’t look for play of light in air

Or one day’s death to usher in another yet more fair.

Turn and see truth

Truth in all majesty

Unencumbered in strength

Strong over daily oppression – depression

Drawing and lifting besetting frustration

As cool of the evening

Lifts heat of the sunlight

And lulls in the coming

Of darkness the healer.

Turn, see a moment

Never repeated

Fixed in the day as the time of its parting.

Fixed in all time as this day’s departing

Returning no more.

Turn, see peace

The sun and the earth and you

Bound by peace, that companionship not of this world.

Trees wane and fade

The far hills stoop into nothingness

The grass lays back

Still tremor of cypress, awed at the spectacle.

The sun,

The sun pours down his molten end

In a hazy hush at the rim of the world.

The clouds in turmoiled glory

In a silent impassioned ecstasy

Lie near my face.

Evening cool soothing the brow

Chilling the back’s sweat

Hair lifting

With the spirit of that frozen, fervent flame.

Richard Morriss (Zimbabwe)

August 1961

The will to live

The Will to Live

Silently someone just learned to forgive,

While a man with a voice screamed "Die!"

My heart cries loudly "live, live, live!"

And my head turns away from the lie.

We're not all destined for fame abroad,

With stars in our hopeful eyes

But some will find their sweet reward

As the fire of this life dies.

Frustration turns its restless blade

With all its vain intent,

While in my breast the knowledge lays

Of what the master meant.

Charisma fueled by selfish pride

Is like its cousin fame

And only fools who trust in lies

Will fan the rampant flame.

But secret flows the whispering brook

Determined, to the sea.

And when my dreams like clouds have fled

My will returns to thee.

Joe Morriss

 22nd September 2014

Friendship

I just want to reach out to you
To connect
I'm fed up of being on the other side of the street
I wanna be the same as you
Your friend

Enjoy the things you enjoy
Do the things you do
Have the same mind
The same attitude
Share a good time together

But I haven't experienced what you have
Mum and Dad not at home
Arguing, violent when they are
Bad crowd, breaking things, stealing
Don't care if you're caught

Crammed in together
Council estate
Unwashed, uncared for
Broken, dirty toys
No love

I want to reach out to you
But I'm afraid that you resent me
Might hurt me.

Good boy
Clean hair
Tidy manners, polite
Well spoken, well read, well looked after
Interested family, Inheritance, education
Gentle hands

So what have we got in common?
Don't want to dig up the dirt
Drain the dregs
I just want to reach out to you
For us to feel safe together

We both need a friend
Both you and me
And if it's not each other then who's it gonna be?
Who'll settle our differences, make us free?
If there was something I could give you
Something you'd really want and need
Not second hand wealth
Not just shared greed.

Do you know Jesus?
He loves and he cares
He don't put on airs
I'll share him with you
He's everyone's friend
there's nothing broken that he can't mend.

Joe Morriss

July 2005

Milestones

Everybody has to start somewhere
At birth
The beginning of everything
Thrust out of the nest
Into this world's mess
Left helpless and begging.

Then comes the growing
Perpetual state of watching and learning
Each new skill and quest
Enjoyed and put to the test
But still a sense of longing and yearning

Long days spent simply living
Age brings change and with it decaying
Nothing new now but labour and task
Every day the same as the last
has anyone been listening to what you've been saying?

But what of the other journey?
The one that starts in crisis
The unfamiliar turning
No longer at the mercy of our own devices.

The young man following his dream
Is as wise as the oldest sage
In that moment of stepping out
A shining star at the dawn of his age

The eyes of the heart are opened
The way ahead is clear
He travels surefooted and unhindered
And free from all that clinging fear

What is a moment of selfless giving
If not the real beginning?
The kindled spark of inspiration
Like a leap of joy at the sound of singing

All that remains is to stay the course
Each step marked by a firm decision
A sacrifice of what could have been yours
Moves you onward toward the vision

And so like milestones along the way
Marking the way to the journey's goal
A choice is made day after day
To follow the new and forget the old.

Joe Morriss

31st July 2010  

Doubting Thomas

Hey Thomas,
Come and join us!
But why are you like that?
We've seen him
Its amazing
He really has come back!
Don't you believe? Doubting Thomas.

Oh Yeah, I believe.
I believe in what I can see;
And I saw him die and I saw him bleed!
You've all seen a ghost, or shared the same dream,
But I just see pain, where love should have been.

Like I said, I believe in what I can see,
And these are the things that make up my reality:

Expanding population, third world debt
Exploitation, high rise isolation
Domestic strife, child labour and prostitution.
Concrete, Cars, litter and pollution
fat politicians and war the only solution.
Neglect, abuse and drug use
Unemployment, kids living off refuse.

These are the wounds that the world has to feel
So unless I can see them, I wont believe that he's real.

Yes Thomas
You're right
I suffered the cross
And just like you felt the pain and the loss
See the marks of rebellion still open and raw
Come touch them and know me
Be doubting no more

My Lord and my God!
You really have come
The world without hope left me cold and so numb

Yes faithful Thomas
You were right to be sad
But now that you've seen me 
Believe and be glad!

Joe Morriss

Easter 2012

Harvest of Souls

A field before me

Bright and gold

A harvest of souls

Rolling pasture

Number untold

My heart yearns to reach out

Reap the trust of these ones

Lost and hurting

But where to begin?

Stop them in the street

Under duress

Hard pressed

To tell them of this love within?

And by the field

Are two trees

One is barren

The other has leaves

Mistakes of the past

Over which one grieves

The other's blossom is a promise

Of continuing life and fruit to come

This is faith

Which can be believed upon.

Back in the yield

Poppies adorn the field

Scarlet and bright

Scars from the fight

But blood is thicker than water

And here is a deeper red flower

It speaks of a death

Of love, of power

A love for the lost

Counting the cost

Reaching and restoring.

And so my harvest is not great

One man in a million

I try, I cry, but it's getting late

What can I do but gather?

Fill both my hands

Hold what I can

And keep holding...  

Joe Morriss

August 2006

Then your love broke through

The wind gusted strong and blew the clouds away
The sun broke through and embraced the day

I met a brother on the road today
The clouds of my soul were heavy and grey

We embraced and laughed
Then his love broke through
Tears of joy filled my eyes
Like the morning dew

The wind of your spirit blew the clouds away
Your son broke through and embraced the day.

Joe Morriss

2008

(Was having a melancholy walk and met my friend Nathan White enjoying a birthday walk up the same lane)