Firmly but gently

That’s how I want to hold you

As I did with my guitar

Strumming the pain with my fingers

My children while they slept as babies

With my whispered dreams hovering over them

All the ones I’ve loved

With reckless abandon and surrender

My hopes, so great and fragile

Yet concrete and certain

And my faith, precious and powerful

The anchor in serenity and storm

Let me hold you

The peace in confusion

Bass line in the song

Grace in sin

The presence of the most high