Laura Miller

After Katrina

When all becomes unmoored
Foundations foundering, gnawed by darkness
Definition drowned
Let me be as a lantern
Illumining black corners and blurry forms
Let me be as a rainbow
Wrapping storm-torn lands in bright memories of promise
Let me be as a candle
Enduring though I flicker ‘til I’m gone
And when we need the courage to renew, and renew again
Let me be as the moon
Let me be as a firefly
Making my own glow where there is none
When the earth aches for the distant dawn
Let me be as the sun
Let me be as a star,
Whose tiny spark can sear the deepest night
Praised be the eternal God
Who gives us darkness that we may strive for light

Be With Me

When I must go into the shattered places
Lashed by storms untamed
Where there is no shelter
Be with me
When my path heads into dark clouds
Bloated bellies gleaming with electric menace
Be with me
When my feet stumble and my eyes avert
Stay near me
When I am numbed by fear
Touch me
While I clasp the cold hands of death
Keep me warm
You who paints the rainbow
Who set the dawn to trump the dark
Who crows triumphant against silence
Who answers death with love
Be with me
And when I must venture
Over deep chasms, into reaches I have never known
Perhaps I leap, perhaps I fall
Perhaps You will not catch me
But still, and ever thus
Be with me