I don't know if anyone is reading this blog, but if you have, you'll figure out the meaning of this next poem quickly. I have a little more free time these past couple weeks, and so, it has been taken up with much prayer, discussion, and struggle. Anyway, when too many words tire oneself and one's closest mates, (and you still have something to say) poetry can sum things up. And I'm plain scared, though I'm excited, and I believe the Lord, the God of Israel, will give me rest. And yet here it is:
The Darkness
Who will peer with me
Into the Darkness?
Who will stand by me
As I look into what cannot be seen?
Who is my friend?
Who will hear my words,
"I know very little"
And still say,
"You are loved"?
Are You the one?
We say, "These are notions which must not be spoken"
Our tribes, each one different
Placing Another Outside
While we vainly say,
"Our Shepherd is the same."
And He is.
Praise what I do know, He is!
And curse it all I would,
But for this:
Jesus is the Christ.
Dear Lord, I must find You.
Not content with a 'mere' You,
But with all of You,
In whom the fulness of God
Dwells.
It is not the Valley of Death,
Nor even its shadow.
But surely You are with me,
As You have been
This many years.
It is quite dark
And scary here,
Quite enough
To reduce me
To unsettled tears.
In loving men I trusted,
Seeing their Charity
And Purity of heart,
But this indeed leads me here,
Where I know little.
Some say, "This is the place,
you needn't go elsewhere"
But men like every other,
If I settle quick,
I may be wrong again.
Where are You, Lord?
Why do You delay?
Do You see
The mess Your children
Have made?
Perhaps I am a fool
To think this Love
Which I have seen
Has a resting-place
I have yet to find.
But You have promised
That it would be so.
So, I press on,
Knowing the Answer
But not the question.
One thing I refuse, this I deny:
That I will decide
When the Quest is over.
This we all have done, satisfied,
While we love not one another.
"My peace I give you,
My peace I leave with you"
But not here, not now.
The only thing left to say,
"Come, Prince of Peace, come!"
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