I Was In New Orleans by Pat Darnell

 

I was in New Orleans

1. I I Was In New Orleans

2. 
   
3. 
   
4. New

Most natural thing to do
"You are disturbing
Our performers, Sir..."
"if it continues,
You’ll have to leave"
A waiter said to me

  Poison brings me
Closer to Jesus

"Sir, you will have to leave
If you continue to wave
And weave

But—where am I?
I was in New Orleans
Living a no regrets life --
Thief comes anyway
Only to kill, steal and destroy
And takes my valuables away

  "..Sir, you are still there
  but I’m sorry you must stop
or you will have to leave

Do I have to cross
That old rickety bridge
..Old rusted metal
Crickety bridge to
Get out of here?

  "I don’t know Sir;

…if you keep falling
Out of your chair
You must depart

I drank three hurricanes
Before I angled in here
To sit through this Ike
Allison and Katrin’ despair

Oh, or do you mean the singer
When he broke a string
Did I do that?
Did I do that, you see
Because I’m here

  "I cannot, Sir,Give any reprieve
  Nor answer your  Lust for poison...
  Sir,  Now, consider the door

I’ve been hearing that
A lot lately –Yep --
That I have to leave
You know I have
Heard all this before

I don’t remember
How ‘xactly it ends
Spirit keeps me alive
While solvents burn
My insides dry
Like a gourd

Coursing through me
Grizzle and bones
Till I have to go
And find my way home

I want first bite
Of every night
Not just a slice
After everyone else

  "Okay, are you going
To go now, Sir...
  Here is the door

Can I not just sit here
One moment more
For men and for God

I fought
to hold the weight
I climbed and tore
At walls, I bore
Into dams
I held resentment in
in my hands
held jealous
To my path…

To my path
So that I am here
A friend to this place
Tho' poisoned patron
A real hard Hurri-case

  "Of your stay here I have foreknowledge No --
  though your condition I see in triplicate
  Less illusion More legitimate
  Truthfully -- Face your poison you ignoble man
  Zenobly, leave boldly,
  Day will bring all to soon memories back again."

Heavens Open

     Rain is a gift to the soil.  It dissolves natural elements in the soil to make them available to be 

absorbed by the feeder roots of plants, along with the water, to quench a plant's thirst and hunger.

It fills underground aquifers to be tapped by natural forces and to be drawn out for use on the surface

by animals.  Homo sapiens are necessary to do this because they are dominant and capable of doing 

so.

As the various absorption methods are satisfied, the excess rain becomes run-off.  It flows into natural 

drains and collection areas. Eventually, it is absorbed more by the soils and aquifers, evaporates or 

flows down to larger drains and larger reservoirs.  The Earth's oceans, seas and gulfs are the final 

destinations for excess rain.

This run-off to the oceans, seas and gulfs becomes feedstock for more rain. This is a very natural 

process and to the best of our understanding is essential to life.

It doesn't seem as if the natural progression of this rainfall journey is to begin by bouncing off of 

concrete.

.

The Godly Way in History, Present and Future

“ … So a new approach is necessary, a more intensive method. Humans must be shown how to help themselves; they must be spiritually and physically strengthened in order to rise to full stature. This involves education toward self-reliance, responsibility, judgment, conscience; education that will instill good-neighborliness and eliminate the countless forms of superficial thinking and mass-mindedness; education toward transcendence, purposeful education toward perfect adulthood, education toward God. All these things are intimately connected and you cannot have one without the others. Only a person with a certain spiritual awareness, however small, is fit to accept the Word of God and fulfill the divine order in his everyday life. For no order can be achieved except in accordance with God’s law. The new order of the world must be based on the historical fulfillment of the order of God; otherwise, it will be just another edifice on shifting sand doomed to destruction like the rest. Human regeneration must come from within according to the pattern which defines us as being created in God’s image. Otherwise, history will repeat itself and we shall be faced with further madness and confusion.”

— Fr. Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit Priest executed by the Nazis in WWII

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5d

Work of Human Minds...Fruit of God's Goodness
Father, God, Creator and Savior,
Your time is limitless...Beginning, Ending
And All in between.
Days with no time frame
Yours is Time.
We, Your sons and daughters
Wish You 'Happy Fathers Day'
In the Spirit and Name of
Your True Son, Jesus. Amen

                                                      But I Did

I met a homeless woman who had not a dime to her name.
She had two baskets, a bag of medicine, a sack of snack foods, a backpack,
And a dog.

She needed to get to Texarkana, on the Arkansas side, to where her son lives, with his girlfriend.
He had not a dime to his name for gasoline to come pick her up, and
He had no permission from his girlfriend to use her car to pick her up.

I gave her a ride to Texarkana, on the Arkansas side, to where her son lives,
And her dog.

I didn't think I could drive it.  But I did.

And God smiled.


On the way, I saw small country towns, and I saw bigger towns,
Such as Greenville, and Mt. Pleasant, my Dad's hometown.
I saw green fields of summer grass with scores of fat cows grazing to their hearts' content.
I saw sixty foot trees towering up both shoulders of the highway so dense you
could not distinguish one tree trunk from the next.
I saw mansion-like ranch houses sprawled on hilltops surrounded by boundaries
of white cross-plank fences.
I saw countless ponds, lakes, and the Red River.
I crossed the Red River, over to the Arkansas side where the son lives with his girlfriend.

Then I turned around, and crossed over the Red River again.
I didn't think I could drive it.  But I did.

And I smiled.


When men do anything without God, it's ugly; it corrupts.
When God does anything, it's lovely; it edifies.
When Patches, the dog, sleeps tonight on a rug on the floor,
With fresh water, and stomach full of the Iams Lamb and Rice I happened
to be carrying in the car when I found them,
She is going to be sleeping well.

Goodnight Patches, Sleep tight;
Don't let any bugs bite.

I didn't think I could drive it.  But I did.

And Patches is smiling.