The King's Crown--The Compilation

If you who are the emptiness of space,
And galaxies are all yours to command,
And all there is of love is in your face,
And grace flows down to us out of your hand,
Then we are blessed beyond what we have earned,
And cannot speak the depth of what we feel.
We must content ourselves with chaos spurned
While all the wounds of death within us heal.
You are the God whose love defeated Hell,
And fought for those who spurned you without cause,
And yet beyond the universe you dwell,
And set in motion love and life and laws.
Oh God, forever glorified above,
The object and the author of my love.

If you, who are the emptiness of space
Fill all that is and was and will yet be,
And to beholders have a nameless face,
And see the future as a memory,
Why then do you watch sparrows' darting flight,
Or give a name to roses and to stars?
It seems one such as you, who fills the night
Would need no lowly souls, yet here we are.
You know the name of all my moods and fears
And all the inner longings of my heart.
You know the number of my hairs and years
And give thought for the whole and all the parts.
Such staggering minutiae fill your hand,
While galaxies are all yours to command.

While galaxies are all yours to command
You spend your days beside me without cease,
And nights are never lonely, for you stand
A watchman in the darkness, bringing peace.
Your universe of glories is untouched
Compared to what the human mind may know,
And yet in all its splendor, light, and such,
It's less to you than I, and how I grow.
The proof of this is seen in your release
Of all of Heaven's glory for a birth
And life and death among us--we the least,
Of all deserving of your gaze. This earth
Has seen you die and live again for grace,
And all there is of love is in your face.

All there is of love is in your face,
And I--I see it like the rays of dawn.
Its light is there to wholly flood this place,
And by it I will walk the path I'm on.
Though I may not think on it every hour,
Or recognize its presence in the night,
Still gently comes your love in glorious power,
Given like to blind receiving sight.
Warm the heart of stone within my chest,
With love that's stronger still than raging seas.
Break the dawn and give my soul a rest
And hear my undeserving heart's soft pleas.
Your mercies are as countless as the sand,
And grace flows down to me out of your hand.

This grace flows down to us out of your hand,
Proffered for the pilgrim's shortened rest
In fields of fescue, bent with dew. Such land
As makes the weary soul to feel refreshed.
Your grace grants rest beside the flowing streams,
And pools where all is quiet cleanse the grime.
The gates of Heaven tickle at our dreams,
And peace has brought a roadblock for a time.
Stillness of the soul in vales long dead
And banquets with such men as cause great fear
Are meant for those who trust and rest their heads
Giving love a chance to draw them near.
Patience taught all our tired souls have learned,
And we are blessed beyond what we have earned.

We are blessed beyond what we have earned--
We with sandaled feet on dusty roads,
Feeling truth within our hearts. It burned
Like fire and ash to strengthen us for loads
Beyond what we can bear--we mortal men
Now burdened with the weight of truth and light.
Gates of death and hell have lost again
And cornerstones and rocks exert their might.
We have felt the earthquakes, saw the veil
Torn in two to usher mankind in.
We have walked with you, saw you prevail,
And smile and love and free us from our sin.
You once walked with us, our door, our seal;
We cannot speak the depth of what we feel.

We cannot speak the depth of what we feel,
Despite that words and feelings in our blood
Are flowing like your face has been revealed,
And at the barest touch you are a flood.
Yes, you created logic, reason, minds,
And gave us wills to conquer foolish hearts,
To leave the bare emotions far behind,
And cling to knowledge--all that life imparts.
But without love and passion, faith and trust,
Which you yourself have felt more still than we,
Then we are less than human, cold, unjust.
We turn to know much more than what we see.
We feel you and we know you, both in turn;
We must content ourselves with chaos spurned.

We must be content with chaos spurned
For all the tortured hope that holds us fast.
The face of death has gazed on us and turned
To darkness, for the light in us will last.
We walk your fields and sail your seas unknown
To carry hope to men as you require.
And we remain well armed, we bear your crown
And speak with words of angels, tongues on fire.
This is the rock upon which you have built
Forevermore your people, bound by love.
We build on rock, not sand, nor shame, nor guilt,
Forever looking to your light above.
Now soldiers, warriors, we are made more real
While all the wounds of death within us heal.

While all the wounds of death within us heal,
You are at work to vanquish all our foes--
To trample enemies and bid them kneel,
To bring them bitterness and countless woes.
At last has the accuser lost his place
Beside the throne to point and to deride.
Justice has been equalized by grace,
And now the mediator's by your side.
This is the victory all Earth desired,
Yearning for relief, and to be filled.
Always it was blood that you required,
And out of love your own Son's blood was spilled.
You loved us to the death, and strongholds fell.
You are the God whose love defeated Hell.

You are the God whose love defeated Hell,
You are the God who loves us mortal men
To greater lengths than any culture tells
Of its own gods. Your love exceeds again
What any text explains in simple words.
You live beyond the pages of a book
Or stories from the tongues of old and gray.
These gods who lived like mortals, sinned, and took
From men, demanding more, and spurned the thought
Of beauty in a friendship, love and trust
With men. But you gave everything and fought
To make us right with you, to dwell with us.
And hell stood with them--you broke wide its jaws
And fought for those who spurned you without cause.

You fought for those who spurned you without cause,
With power like a warrior to defeat
The chains and swords and fire, without pause
Or thought for your own pain as you were beat
By human hands and whips and thorns and breath.
While hidden from the eyes of men there stood
The evil one, accuser, at your death.
In triumph, victory, and calling good
The agony you suffered. In your eyes
The men who beat you "know not what they do,"
And you, you loved them far beyond the lies
They hurled upon you, spurning, beating you.
Not man nor devil knew just why you fell--
But now beyond the universe you dwell.

And here beyond the universe you dwell,
Setting into motion clouds and rain,
Taking into hand and shaping well
The mountains curving upwards from the plain.
So vast that men have set no foot to rest
On every rock and crag and waterfall
Among them. Let your worthy heart be blessed
With sounds of waves, of winds, rejoicing, all.
As we inspire ourselves with what we see,
Your splendor goes beyond the naked eye
And farther still than telescopes while we
Can fathom not your power though we try.
You are the sculptor, mastermind and cause
And set in motion love and life and laws.

You set in motion love and life and laws
For we who live like reckless fools below.
Without your presence here we fail because
Our nature has no knowledge where to go.
We are without your love like empty shells
Scattered on the sand and blown about
In vapors fading, and no man can tell
The way to know the truth without a doubt.
But you--you are the rudder and the sails;
You are the only truth that matters here
On earth while we--we stumble and we fail.
But should we cling to you we will adhere
As solid as a rock and children of
Our God, forever glorified above.

Oh God, forever glorified above,
No words remain in any tongue on earth
For anything the years have spoken of
Since words became a way to measure worth.
The years have seen your acts from age to age
As they are born and die and you remain
Beyond the binds of time and written page.
In nothing and in everything contained
Immeasurable, full of reckless light,
Existing far beyond what we can know.
You are so purely more than touch or sight
Reveal. And as the years and eons flow,
They touch you not, and words are not enough:
Oh object and the author of my love.

The object and the author of my love
Are both the same--and he has all my heart
And chooses those my heart may take hold of,
And those to whom belongs the smallest part.
'Tis you, the one called love, who loved to death
And life again we tired, unlovely men
Who give us an example for each breath
And heartbeat on the road that twists and bends
Called love and sacrifice--for we, like you
Are meant to love with all we have and are.
And you, in all your glory, standing true,
Are love beyond the heavens and the stars.
Your perfect love displayed: you took our place--
You, who are the emptiness of space.