Saturday, June 9, 2018

The Handmaiden ToBe

Their she lay, at Boaz foot ...

Tobe covered, by the hem,
Of the covenant.

Then on to bring forth the child,
of Naomi, and Boaz.

That the inheritance and covenant,
may continue.

This then the promise was made,
and the promise was kept.

To the bring forth, the Kings.

First David, then Jesus,

To serve them all.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

What Remains

Caught by the grandkids ...
mak'n out, at the cemetary.

Their, were they,  
tobe, with their daughter,
and what remains.

It had been long, too long
this last, separation

Luv takes time ...

This long time.
it simmers, and bubbles, and over flows.

Then what remains, in old age?
How to rekindle,
that midnight cigarette?

This then, they do now, here,
with their daughter, son, and grandkids.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

The Other Handmaiden

What of the other,
handmaiden.

She who bore,
the Son of God.

Was she like the former.

Ruth bore, the son of Naomi.
The grandfather, of David.

So to the handmaidens,
now we do ...

This then honor,
the Mother Of All.

"Entreat me not to leave thee ...

Thy people shall be my people ...
Thy god is my God."

He who bore the sins of the world.
Born of a handmaiden.

A gift to The Mother,
Eternal, in her home above.

We speak not of her,
this then, must we change.

This then to honor,
them all.

That then all of the handmaidens,
to the Mother, Eternal...

May they share. The fruits of their womb.

Eternal.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

A Handmaids Tale

Ruth was Naomi's handmaiden.
This fruit of her womb, given as a gift,
and a sign of love.

I have know Naomi,
I have know Ruth.

I choose to luv,
them both.

One for the gift of life,
the other for the gift of her life.

For to cherish the children,
both they do.

Friday, May 18, 2018

On Conception

She remembered the night,
Concieved, I was ...

This most memorable occasion.

At my dad's sister's,
in St George, Utah.

I, the only child, 
born, in the summer,
in the afternoon.

What brings one to travel 
to St George,
in the winter?

To see Dads Father,
on his winter flight, 
to Utah's Dixie?

Grandpa didn't like the cold

One son, she had, already,

Momma never had trouble,
making babies.

What then followed,
was the difficulty.

Her Momma had 10 children, 
in 14 years.

Momma offered her life,
everytime she delivered a child.

Her blood pressure was high.
The doctor feared to lose her.

Her last child, Dana Allen,
was lost in utero.

I  often think of Momma.

Her greatest fear, 
too many children.

Mine,
Never to father one.

Prepared, to have another child,
she was not .

She mourned his loss,
the remainder of her days.

I have fathered children,
a gift from one,
who luv's us.

It is said part of the baby,
remains with the momma,
after the birth.

I wonder how much of Momma ... 
remains with me?

--
Steven Bassett



--
Steven Bassett

Thursday, May 17, 2018

The danger, was there.

Slow down He said.
There is danger ahead,
slow down.

No danger was there
I saw it not.

Thus, I slowed down.

I have learned to heed his council.
That is why I preside now,
over his mission,
and 240 of his children.

That nothing happened.
Did I hear Him wrong?

This I did not!
I know his voice,
as a child knows his father.

Then on I go,
to preside again.

Because I headed his voice,
nothing, was there.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

On this Mother's Day


To this, to then.
This Mother's Day,

To then, to this,
Go forth, and now

To Joy go forth,
to share it now.

To rise, to fall
then onward go.

To luv, my Mom,
and then my wife.

To bring the joy,
then, now we share.

Then on, to forth,
to our daughter now.

Saturday, May 12, 2018

On Mothers Day

To Mothers, this day,
Then not my best.

To this, then Mothers,
Then tobe.

She loved me, then,
Now, both they do.

The first, then Mom,
now then, my wife.

To honor, both then
This then, I do.

Then to another,
She then, will be.

Mothers, till then,
They all, then be.

This then , this poem

To separate God, from my culture. 
This then, this poem
Is, tobe....

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Caffeine and the Word of Wisdom

He said not to drink caffeine,
the minister did,
if i wanted to go on a mission
then drink it not,

it is law 
Gods law,
the word of wisdom.

I was then faithful.
To the law.

or was I?

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

I potted the plant

Nephi, cut off, the head of Laban ...
I potted the plant.

if I were but more, faithfull
would I still pot the plant?

Death comes knocking at our door,
urging me to let it in ...
but then I potted the plant.

Nephi lopped off the head, 
to preseve,.
the history,
of the family.

I potted the plant
to preserve,
life, of the one.

I then free to choose,
my actions this day.

The consequence less,
and the price,
I too pay.

Saturday, April 7, 2018

On mommas poem

I found the poem, today.
the one to daddy,
before he was daddy.

Momma had the prettiest penmanship,
but spell, she could not,
to save her life.

I loved to read, mommas letters.

To me, she wrote one,
when I broke my arm,
as a child.

I found it in the baby book ...
the one she started,
but never completed ...

Their was a shadow, on the book,
left by the trauma, of my surgery,
at birth.

Momma luved Daddy,
the kind of luv that stays,
and works things out.

I want that kind of luv,
for my wife and children.

To stay and work things out.

Maybe someday,
they will find my letters, and poems,
and feel my luv for
my wife, and their grandmother.

Friday, March 30, 2018

When we started the war

It began in Daviess County.

We the persecuted ones,
we left New York
we left Kirtland
we left Missouri
we left Illinois

then came Utah, and Mountain Meadows,
but then we started the war.

In Far West, on July 4 1838, we said no more.
Sidney Rigdon, and The Salt Sermon.

We warned the Missourians,
what would happen,
if thy continued, 

then, we burned their homes,
and destroyed their goods

Because we said, no more

Now we are alone at Hauns Mill,
because, He said no more,

They are My children too ...
our homes destroyed, because,
He said no more.

Now we learn at Liberty Jail-Temple
to say no more, and learn to serve and protect

This, then, his way, now.

Then on, to be alone, 
no more ...

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Into the Danger Zone

It was a Kenny Loggins night,

There by the banks of the old canal,
behind the elementary school,
theme from "Top Gun",
on the WalkMan.

This place, full of memories, bad ...
and good, on the highway,
to the danger zone

She was his first, and still his only ...

Tomorrow, at the Temple,
they will covenant to be one.

Together, they will share,
This ride, into the wind.

But for now, He thinks
Of the dance, to come.

This life, together, and apart.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

They Danced

Why continue, the dance.

Nearly 50 years, separated only by death.

She really wanted the 50, years.

Come together, separate, then together ...
Again.

Their had been other lovers but only one
Real, luv.

Why continue the dance?

She really luved him but life,
With him, was hard.

She never let anyone close, really close

But the dance they shared,
The life they shared.

It ment so much, to them, and the children.

Is love then truly an act and not a feeling.

To endure the heartache and pain.

This then the dance, together and apart.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

The scars we carry

We both carry the scars,
the ones from our darkest day.

I for the life I lived,
He from the life I lived.

Dark with dispair, was I.
To carry my dispair, did he.

How I long to speak, to him,
of our scars.

He must have luved me,
as I long to luv them now.

This is a dream we share,
the scars that bind us ...

Eternally.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

On learning new things

Difficult things, I seek to know.
Yet thus explain,  I cannot.
And little understand, do I yet.

I ponder them now,
These many years

Long do to I desire,
to share these thoughts.

Then why do you not,
understand me thus?

To win an argument,
I do not, then seek.

I want to share, a truth.

Maybe the day, will come,
when better prepared to receive, you are

Or more able, to explain, I am.

Till then, shall we dance,
and be friends.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

On her paintings

She painted,
In water colors and oil.

Whence she started, I do not know.

Late in life, I do suppose.

In life, I did not appreciate them.

Long gone, she is now.

Charlene her daughter in law
She was living with, when grandma died.

She sent them to my sister.

We have them now.

I long for her presence,
the paintings will do..
for Now.

Maybe my children will have my poetry,
when gone, I am, too.

Will they long for me, as I do, for her ...
Now

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Castle




Their is a castle set
In the middle of our town

A castle built
To house a God.

Their are battlements,
But no keep and bailey

I have seen it,
from my bedroom window,
this lifetime.

We build temples,
so God can be with us, in our midts.

Emmanuel.

Long before I understood,
why we built them,

I wondered,

Why? battlements.

They were Englishman,
The first ones.
But Swedes, and Swiss , Germans too.

Refugees from their homeland,
Come to build Gods Kingdom

My people left The United States,
to gain religious Freedom.

Having been conquered, in the Mexican American war,

They then became territory.
The Utah Territory.

Their first governor, a prophet,
battled Johnston's Army,
to a stalemate.

For fourty years they battled to leave and then to rejoin The United States.

So the first four temples in Utah all have battlements.

A sign of victory, through defeat.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The choice

Why choose,
to end a life.

Mistakes he had made,
and been forgiven.

Then came, new life,
a wife, and 2 children.

Still the demons haunted him.

The seizures, waking,
have returned again.

He tried, so hard,

To begin life, anew.

I have had dark hours too.

I know the despair felt, that day.

Luckily no access to guns, did I have,
on my day.

Others live with our choices, too.

Now two babies have no father.
The world has one more widow.

And I am a loss,
to explain, the choice.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

On creating midrash

She had told him,
The young life, had been wasted?

Or did she.

He ask momma,
Why his daughter died.

His daughter being less then 6 months.

Crib death they called, it.
No explanation, no answer.

He ask Momma,
Why.

To help you be a man.

He said I am not a man, I have not changed.

He heard, "Your daughters life's was wasted"

He then became a man, and changed.

This is the story, I heard,
as I studied,
at his table.

Two lives improved, by her short life.

Now I tell you the story.

This is the power of myth,  as it becomes midrash.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

The poems

To this then the poems.

Come forth unannounced
Unaware.

I call them forth, naught.

From whence do the come?

Come forth thence do, they.

To bless, and to share.

Thus,
therapy, could be they?

Share them, do I,
Then.

In hopes to bring forth,
The light.

For all to share.

Monday, December 25, 2017

This, Then, be Sacred

It was oil, olive,
Then was it, naught.

Together, they nelt,

Together, they prayed.

How does one seek forgiveness,
of the self.

To then hallow, the vulgar, choice.

To remove,
this, then, the pain.

Thus, to bless the oil,
and then the act.

To make this, then, sacred, the choice.

To the moment they shared.

That peace may come,
and the pain,
be no more.

For to remove, is to restore,
and safeguard life.

This then, the choice, he made.

Friday, December 22, 2017

When to plant, the pot.

Nephi had done it.
Many prophets did it
Defied the culture
To save a life.

Now we plant the pot.

It is a risk.
The risk we bare.

He who plants, 24 years.

We who grow, our home, and freedom.

We risk it all.
For the one we luv

Now to bare fruit.

The cure it came.

To share another day.
With the one we luv.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Acts 10:9-16

The blanket,
it was spread forth,
on the roof top.

All the unclean food.

"Take eat this is my body"

Three times the command was repeated.

Then the meal was removed.

Three times he had denied Christ, before.

He had been ever faithfull,
Ever since.

But this seamed a bridge, too far.

He pondered thus.

Can anything be impure,
What God has made pure.

When the men came,
from Cornelius,
he journied, thus.

Have I denied,
the pure,
unpure.

The pot was planted,
the pure,
unpure.

The prisoner, in his jail cell.
The unloved.
The unwashed.

To have not left,
The cave.

To leave behind the burden,
the expectation of his culture.

To be with, and strengthen,
the impure.

Those with heavy burdens.

This was his task,
and desire.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

The scares, He bore.

The knife, it was not sharp,
Just enough,
Serrated, thus it was,
Small in size.
Designed to portion a steak
into smaller pieces.

It had rested on the table.
Left from a previous meal.

It was a tough morning,
leading to a tough day.
One was dying, was she?
and one was taking the covenants,
of marriage.

Both performed,
one the marriage,
one the promise.
He was uncertain of his place, in both lives.
Luck had it there were no guns in the house.

Still,
Would they really care in the morning?
There was a lot of blood,
Still..

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

On Plato's Cave

Success and family was what, then he saught, always.

Long lived they in the cave.

The images that surrounded, them.

Were they real, or naught.

The others, outside, had such expectations.

He wanted to be with them too.

To be with them, this he could naught.

So he lived two lives, between the real and the cave.

Someday he would be naught.

Maybe his God would judge him naught.

But leave them, in the cave, he could naught.

Until they freed themselves.

Was it not the cave, Plato's cave.

Escape it once he did, almost.

But return then he must.

They could not see the real for the image.

For to leave them he could bare, naught.

So this then, was his task.

To be with them, and strengthen them, until they freed their own chains.

Then together they would leave the cave...

Tobe their naught.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

On Mr Frodo and Gethsemane.

What be their task.
Here in the garden.

Know they not then, this burden.
Come to gloat, had they now,
Or only to mourn, this one.

If this be the failure, final.
All will be lost.

How to strengthen him then.
Thus now they confired.
This burden, could carry, they not,
For man
For God.
The blood it flowed, drop by drop.

Once before their had been such a scene.
High on Mount Doom, in Mordor, a task almost too much, for this one to bare.
Mr Frodo, all spent from burden, thus carried.
It had all seamed in vain.
Till came the friend, who walked the path.
Samwise Gamgee

"Come, Mr. Frodo!' he cried. 'I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you."

So do angel's imitate men and hobbits.
This lesson they share.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

On Celtic Bishops.

What of the Celtic Bishop's.

Born so long ago.

How long did they preserve, the church?

... after the fall of the empire.

This long time, they served humanity, and transmitted culture, and learning.

St. Patrick's grandfather was one.

How they loved and cherished their wives.

To nourish the church in the wilderness,
was it not, their lives vocation.

Till in her beauty, she came forth, in all her strength, and magistry.

Friday, October 20, 2017

From whence doth it come?

The poetry.

Like a fountain.
A Volcano ,
A perrenial flower, that fails to bloom ,
... when neglected.

Long do'th it question me.
Like a Jungian apparition. 
... uncalled for it comes.

To the answers I seek,
Only questions, are provided.

Like a twisted, Douglas Adams dream.
The answer is 42, but what of the question.

Still together we dance,
The poetry, and I.



Douglas Adams wrote "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". In the latest version we learn the Earth was created by the mice to learn the eternal question, the answer, to which, is 42.