amos on living free

amos the churchmouse:

a view from under the pew

Editor’s note: Amos is a churchmouse, unable to use the keyboard shift keys and unschooled in the art of punctuation.

boss it seems like ages

ago yesterday that freddie

the flea changed his ways

in fact it s almost hard to

remember how he was

before today

but sometimes it s good

to remind ourselves from

whence we came

i showed freddie what i penned

about him several years ago

it went sorta like this —

boss i ran into despair

yesterday freddie flea was

lying in a heap next

to the garbage can

looky here he says to me

the symbol of my life

he pointed with a shaky hand

to the rusty can i could write

a book on how to snarf and

hook from under the pan

sounds bad says i what do

you mean everything says he

life is dead he said when a

bug is headstrong to go on the

road - a rosebed it ain t he said

and dropped his head

but why says i to the runaway

did you fly away in the first place

he looks at me sorta strangely

and says what s your case

his eyes searched my face

are you a bug-chiatrist

he asked and shook his fist

no says i just an ordinary guy

then i ll tell you says he i ran

away for me to live and be free

but you said i said

i know what i said he said

life on the street is death

there s no place for a breath

of fresh air anywhere

then why not come upstairs

says i where there s cool air

and fair skies

how can that be says he

it s a matter of redirecting

your focus says i

no hocus-pocus

if ya wanna find real life

look to the creator of life

only he can abolish strife

but he says to me how -

can i find it even now

sure i chortled joyously

look you wanted to live free

to live for yourself and fly

so you lunged at life and died

the more you grabbed

the less you had

that s right he said

it s like a blight

here s why says i if ya

wanna live ya gotta die

it sounds like a lie

to me says he

but the more you cling

more death it ll bring

says i in reply ya gotta

choose to lose your life

to christ if ya wanna win

this battle over sin and strife

but give up my life says he

it s the only way to victory

says i then you can fly

move up on high

climb into the upstairs lane

live life on a higher plane

but says he - to die

to self - and put my selfish

dreams on a shelf -

i don t know says he

maybe - just maybe -

to trade away my misery

for life peace and victory

maybe that s for me

boss that was the turning

point for freddie

and life at times may still

get crazy but freddie s never

really been the same

amos