Ghosts

Ghosts

By Steve Loggins

October 3, 2009

Ghosts of things we once held dear may visit any time,

Memories of joy and fear come calling, stay to dine

Reminding us of what we lost or wanted, never had

Making chill a warmer day, turning glad to sad.

Ghosts can scare us without cause, and never meaning to,

Or rise in nights of hellish haunts, with screams, and chains, and “boo”

A ghost is but a lingering shade of something gone away,

Yet never leaves completely, the past returns today.

Sometimes the ghost is faintly known with nothing but a whisper,

At other times they howl and weep, disturbing our night’s slumber

Or shadow us from day to day, reminding us of them

A poltergeist of harm to life, a focus on the “then”

Some want the ghosts, preferring them to living friends and kin,

A trap ensues for nothing good can ever come of him

Who cannot be alive again, in this sphere, only grim

A shadow of the real world, a spider’s web of “when”.

We must say goodbye to all our ghosts, who loiter in the way

Of living life and loving it, of walking in the day

Some ghosts are good to recognize, and wave to as they pass

But make none into houseguests, or prisoners held fast

For soon they are the jailers, and prisoners are we

With ghostly chains and bonds that forge from our own memory

The only Ghost we need to ask to stay with us always

Has a name called Holy, He frees us, no delays.

The Ghost of God is different from all that we have known

He’s ever present, living, true, a power He has shown

The breath of God, the source of life, the spirit of the One,

The inner dwelling life of God the Father and the Son

This Ghost is kind, and wants for us, the best things life can bring

He always points to goodness, to doing the right thing,

He guides, He leads, He formulates, the way of redeemed living

To God alone our praises bring, Thanks to His Ghost, we can sing!