Choosing Life: Poems of Darkness and Light

By John Sieckhaus

I remember when the bullets flew
and some I loved were counted among the lost.
A father desperate midst depressive gloom
sought respite in the glimmer of a demons light
and forsaking knowledge of all that love had taught
chose to end a life that once he had begot.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503528154

John Sieckhaus

The author of Choosing Life has produced a collection of poems which engages us in a discovery of how the Light (described in the Gospel of John) shines in the darkness, sometimes like the stars in the night sky as a beacon of hope, sometimes permeating the darkness, infusing it with the glow and promise of overcoming and transformation. These poems at times question the Light itself, is its presence a certainty or an act of faith? Ultimately they call for the demons of depression, murder and suicide to bend the knee to the Light, underlying the belief that there is another way. The collection spans the complexities of life, personal relationships, psychological struggles and spiritual growth, with some poems challenging the readers to search for and find the Light of their God in the created order, the nuts and bolts of the physical universe, and the quiet presence of a stalking shorebird. —Lynne Nelson Choosing life is no mean task, An idle breath cannot fetch the mark

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Copyright © 2015 by John Sieckhaus.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014922461

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-2814-7

                Softcover       978-1-5035-2816-1

                eBook            978-1-5035-2815-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 02/24/2015

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Contents

About the Author

1

Homo Sapiens

Another Way

Yearnings

Insomnia

October Morning

Looking for Joy

A Hill Above My House

Getting There

At a Distance

Faith Stops

Thorn and Flesh

2

The Collier’s Task

Dancing at the Feast

The Sunday Service

Word Power

Impulse

Spiritual Warfare

3

Couples

Family Court

A Painful Passing

Love’s Balance

4

Labyrinth

Respite

Time

Winter Rain

The Healing Sea

5

Choices (I)

Choices (II)

Choices (III)

6

Space/Time

Entanglement

Half-Life

The Big Bang

The Atoms’ Tale

Entropy

Poetry

7

Vincent’s Light

The Egret

Angels

Moments

Acknowledgements

For my wife, Ann

About the Author

John Sieckhaus was born in St. Louis, MO and educated in Catholic schools, eventually earning a Ph.D. in chemistry at St. Louis University. The seminal moment in his young life was