An Altar by the Sea
by June Crawford
Poems to Ponder 2009
You may purchase a copy at:
www.barnesandnoble.com
www.amazon.com
(Type in An Altar by the Sea)
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In total dedication to
my dear Lord and Savior
In sincere appreciation
for what He did for me.
He Didn't Pull His Hand Away
Words written for the CD
Just This Side of Heaven
by June Crawford
He loved, He taught, He healed, He fed,
The multitudes at hand,
But they turned on Him
As the scriptures said,
In an angry hostile band;
They heard Him cry “Forgive them all,
They know not what they do”;
And the blood that trickled down the cross
Cleansed our sin and souls renewed
Before they stood the cross upright,
It laid upon the ground,
His body placed with arms out stretched
And on His head a shameful crown.
They held His hand against the wood,
The heavy hammer lifted high;
The rusty nail held in place,
Yet from His lips there came no cry
He didn’t pull His hand away
When they nailed it to the cross,
He laid His tortured body down
And counted it all loss.
Then the heavens darkened, and
The thunder rolled and
The earth shook
Where they stood,
And the Lord hung
In the darkness there,
On a common cross of wood
Suspended in the late of day
His lifeless body hung, and few
Could comprehend the fact that
The gates of hell were sprung.
We now can live eternally
It cost that Man His life;
The Son of God had died that day
Delivering us from strife
He didn’t pull His hand away
When they nailed it to the cross,
He laid His tortured body down
And counted it all loss.
Then the heavens darkened, and
The thunder rolled , and
The earth shook
Where they stood,
And the Lord hung
In the darkness there,
On a common cross of wood
And the Lord hung
In the darkness there
On a common cross of wood
He didn’t pull His hand away !
Just This Side of Heaven,
Butterfly Wings and
Are You Sure
Three new CD's from 2008-2009.-2010
I wrote my first song entitled
He Didn't Pull His Hand Away on
Just This Side of Heaven and
wrote Mary's Little Lamb
on Butterfly Wings
and assisted with the vocal on the song
In Jesus Name.
In the new album Are You Sure,
I wrote the words and music for
The Bible Girls and gave my best
at singing it!
Ray wrote all the other music and produced
the albums in his studio, then sent them to
CDBaby to be reproduced. All the vocals
and harmonies and instruments are a
result of his talents that the Lord has
blessed him with.
I did the design work on the albums.
You are welcome to listen to an excerpt
from In Jesus Name from
Butterfly Wings
You may also hear the title song from
Are You Sure
You can listen to excerpts from all the songs from all albums at
www.cdbaby.com.
The Bible Girls can be heard below
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Warm Thoughts
by June Crawford
We gather up
our private memories
scooping them up
lovingly wrapping them
around us snuggly
as we would
our favorite
thick warm sweater
to keep away the
cold blast of winter
or the frigid winds
of reality.
.A Fleshly Composition
by June Crawford
As I look down at my grandsonasleep on my lapand tilt my head just soI can see a bit of my mother,and father; my daughter,husband and son,(his only uncle on my side)and even a trace ofhis great grandparents.I also see a little of his fatherhis paternal grandfatherand grandmother and their other son,(his only uncle on that side),and for just one split second,I see a flicker of myselfembodied in his eyes, his forehead, his hands,his mouth and hair.How many different individualshave contributed to this compositeof fascinating flesh shaped into a smallboy that I so proudly hold this day,whose beginnings began so many generations ago and ended uphere in my lap?Wrinkles in Memories
by June Crawford
The intense face in the old picture
was obviously very young and unlined
dark eyes peered out quizzatively
and beckoned onlookers to remember
It had been taken in a photo booth
for twenty-five cents, cut from a strip
of four others and carried around for
40 years in a back pocket wallet
It remained there in it’s hiding place
while the rest of the world aged
and went about it’s business
forgetting about the 2” square of photo paper
Upon emerging, the photo had a
deep wrinkle that ran across the front
not obliterating the picture
but making it more interesting to look at
The face was unchanged, the eyes still dark
The passionate stare still needing an answer;
Thoughtfulness and energy written all over it;
And imbedded in that photo, with it’s deep crease
was a world of memories,
when she was seventeen and wrinkles
were only for pictures carried around
in back pocket wallets by one who was
as much in love with her,
as she was with him!
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Just a few words.....
I have enjoyed writing words for as long as I can remember. I wrote
free form poetry for years and filed it
all away in a drawer until I read
Billy Collins work!
He wrote from his heart about ordinary
things that we all have thoughts about
and he was the poet laureate of the
United States, and he didnt rhyme either!
So as I approached retirement age, I
decided to publish a few of my poems
I published my first book entitled
A Small Room in 2003 and this past year
in 2009 Ifinished An Altar by the Sea.
In 2008 I started assisting my husband,
Ray in writing songs for his 2 new
Christian music albums. Because of the
structure of a verse, it was a bit of a
challenge, but I have very much liked
hearing my words put to music. On our
latest album, I even attempted to sing. I
wrote the song and the music to it so
decided it would be a good time to finish
the job...by doing the vocal.
It is called The Bible Girls, and
highlights 20 women of the Bible.
On this page you can read and listen to
some of my efforts. I hope you enjoy my
poems and songs as much as I have
enjoyed producing them.
Thank you for visiting!
"There is no Frigate
like a book to take
us to lands far away;
not any courses
like a page of
prancing Poetry."
Emily Dickinson
I had always wanted to write lyrics for a song on the womenof the Bible. This is my attempt for our
new album entitled Are You Sure?
I managed to mention 20 Biblical ladies and also chose
the music for this song and made an even bigger attempt
to sing it .Ray is the singer in the family....not me :)
The Bible Girls
There were ladies in the Bible
Who served the Lord with zest
Some married saints and bore them sons
Most faced tremendous tests
Eve was mother of us all
Ester wed a Persian King
Rebecca bore a set of twins
Eunice taught her male offspring
Chorus
Let’s celebrate our sisters
Let’s sing with pride and joy
For without all the Bible girls
There’d be no Bible boys
Miriam was a prophetess
Lydia, Christ’s new child
Naomi left her foreign land
Ruth joined her in the wild
Mary listened at Christ’s feet
Martha played the servant role
Tabitha was raised from death
Sarah’s senior birth was told
Repeat chorus
Delilah, Salome, Jezebel
Bathsheba; all brought shame
You were really naughty bible girls
You shamed your given name.
Rachel married Jacob last
Leah bore him sons and cried
Elizabeth rejoiced for Mary’s child
Mary watched as Jesus died.
Repeat chorus
Let’s celebrate our sisters
Let’s sing with pride and joy
For without all the Bible girls
Bye, bye you Bible boys!
You can listen to The Bible Girls and sing along :)
You may listen to the song Bible Girls
by clicking on bar below
The Wrinkled Picture
Ms. June at 17
"Music speaks what cannot be expressed
Soothes the mind and gives it rest,
Heals the heart and makes it whole
Flows from heaven to the soul."
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Some of the Bible Girls
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Click here to add text.
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"The stars shine over the mountains
The stars shine over the sea
The stars look up at a mighty God
And the stars look down on me.
The stars will shine for a million years
A million years and a day
But my Lord and I will live and love
When the stars have gone away."
Robert Louis Stevenson
"Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth,
sing to the Lord, bless
His name.
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
Tell of His glories among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all people.
For great is the Lord and
greatly to be praised."
Psalms 96:1-4
The wrinkled picture and Ms. June at 17
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Enich
Ruth
Pharoahs daughter
Esther
Bathsheba
Rebecca
Mary Jesus mother
Elizabeth
Deliah
Herodios
Samarian woman
Salome
Lots daughter
Miriam
Lydia
Mary and Martha
Tabitha
Sarah
Mary Magdeline
Deborah
Leah
Rachel
.Jezebel
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Naomi
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Eve
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Woman at the well
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Jesus and Mary
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Proverbs 31:10–31
presents the outright model
for a woman,
the wife of a noble character.
She is worth more than rubies,
bringing good to her husband,
and caring for her family.
She provides for the poor and needy.
She does a little business on the side,
making and selling garments,
supplying merchants,
considering a field to buy,
planting a vineyard from her earnings.
She is industrious, never idle,
full of dignity,
respected and praised
by her husband and children.
She speaks with wisdom and instruction,
and we are admonished
to give her the reward she has earned.
You go girls!
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The Little Maiden
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God grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
courage to change the things
I can, and the wisdom
to know the difference.
Reinhold Niebuhr
