by Frank Lee Jennings
Ca. 2008
My journey worn by time and deeds
Weary of harsh and violent lands
Worn by ways of grasping man
Mostly tired of me, at the end of me
Completely tired of me
Learning though, oh how I’ve learned
Adventures? Not what I imagined daydreams have fallen far behind
They’ve now become another kind
Exercising myself to erase them
Simple things I used to mock
raise themselves to meet me
Hearth and home, love and kin
Far from stains of my past sins
I run toward what I threw away
Going home, back the way I came
Home to the heart glow
Back to the kingdom without fear
A fountain place of cleansing tears
Will he turn me away? I fear.
Can it be? I wonder while walking
Is there yet a place for me?
Familiar hills come into view.
childhood places that I knew
Close to where I started
Years gone by could they yet dream
that I’d be coming home again?
just the same as I draw near
As when I left that distant year
Only better and brighter and cleaner
Who is rushing now to meet me
and throws himself upon my bosom?
My father weeping, offering grace
His graying head against my face
Our tears mingling as they flow
He leads me into his house
The servants laugh and smile
Just as though I'd never left
and my father had never been bereft
Of his wandering, foolish son
A servant sets another place
a table spread by Father's grace
Friends and loved ones seated there
the servant brings another chair
And sets it next to my father
A prodigal came home today
knowing home's where I belong
so gives my heart a constant song
My father loved me all along
My father loved me all along
Ca. 2008
My journey worn by time and deeds
Weary of harsh and violent lands
Worn by ways of grasping man
Mostly tired of me, at the end of me
Completely tired of me
Learning though, oh how I’ve learned
Adventures? Not what I imagined daydreams have fallen far behind
They’ve now become another kind
Exercising myself to erase them
Simple things I used to mock
raise themselves to meet me
Hearth and home, love and kin
Far from stains of my past sins
I run toward what I threw away
Going home, back the way I came
Home to the heart glow
Back to the kingdom without fear
A fountain place of cleansing tears
Will he turn me away? I fear.
Can it be? I wonder while walking
Is there yet a place for me?
Familiar hills come into view.
childhood places that I knew
Close to where I started
Years gone by could they yet dream
that I’d be coming home again?
just the same as I draw near
As when I left that distant year
Only better and brighter and cleaner
Who is rushing now to meet me
and throws himself upon my bosom?
My father weeping, offering grace
His graying head against my face
Our tears mingling as they flow
He leads me into his house
The servants laugh and smile
Just as though I'd never left
and my father had never been bereft
Of his wandering, foolish son
A servant sets another place
a table spread by Father's grace
Friends and loved ones seated there
the servant brings another chair
And sets it next to my father
A prodigal came home today
knowing home's where I belong
so gives my heart a constant song
My father loved me all along
My father loved me all along