Snowfall
Looking out on the field of purest white
That our peaceful neighborhood has become,
I feel wind and snowflakes so very light
Gently touching my face in the night's cold glum.

Coming back in to warm my cold hands
In front of the old fireplace,
I look out at the winter wonderland
Painted with a sparkling layer of icy lace.

Carried on a steady eastern breeze,
This is a snowstorm like no other;
It lays a white blanket on the bare ground and trees,
And makes for beautiful weather.

Needing neither rhyme nor reason,
Children will wake to see the white glow,
Don coat and glove, and enjoy the season,
Throwing snowballs and making angels in the snow!

A robe of white has covered all that is ugly,
Like the robes we'll wear in God's Paradise,
When we join Him for a resplendent Eternity,
Rejoicing on the unending day of our new lives!

Of Dreams and Ambitions
From the day a soul
Is pulled from the Guff
To inhabit its 70-year hull,
Are its Dreams and Innocence not enough
To succeed,
And to heed
God’s plan
For man?

Yet, do not the cares of the world
Eventually depress the soul
With their harsh conditions?
Into the void our innocence is hurled,
So our dreams we must hold on to,
And begin to form into ambitions.

In using our new-found experience,
Do we not realize our ambitions,
Formed from innocent dreams,
And once again realize innocence?

Lucid
I. Stomping ground.
Traversing the rural fringes
Of urban reality,
Haunting the spirits
With lamps and curious minds.

II. Marble city.
I know when you were born and died,
But I want to see beyond the moss
On your gravestone.
Who were you in life?

III. Cathedral.
I go back in time as I brush webs of dust
From the stained glass window,
Wondering what secrets this
Old church buried with its dead.

IV. Esoteric.
As stained as memory,
This old window yet reflects light
Like the sermons once held
In the holy hall.

Owen Johnston lives and teaches Wado ryu Karate in Lake City, South Carolina. He enjoys reading, writing, training, and spending time with his fiance. The above poetry is excerpted from the author's e-book "Heaven on Earth", which is available in the downloads section of Johnston Wado ryu Karate.

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