Brought far from her own land,
one of the rejected race,
the widow she followed
the last sob of her own grief’s kind to
foreign eyes past
idols she worshipped in her youth.
There, fields of barley brought her with their leavings,
while a mother, aged, sat home
and waited for her dark-skinned daughter
to bring the farmer’s love-gift in her arms.
Who knew what child
waited in an unborn womb
to be issue of her unresisted call
to the lowland where the invisible God
hid Himself on a threshing floor at night?—
Or saw the golden throne,
wooden cup,
shepherd’s harp
prophesying songs about another Bethlehem son?
When she made the journey home to her
burial ground
she never realized
she was already pregnant with salvation,
or that once more
alien people
would bow knee to the unseen God.
"Salmon begot boaz by Rahab, Boax begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king..." Matt 1:5-6
1999
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Why I write peotry
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south." --Psalm 107:2-3
Why shall we, the Redeemed, say so? What shall
we say? Can we, who died in Adam’s fall
‘til Adam’s greater son rose for us, all
our life in Him—Can we fearfully tell
those still in death, and chained to woe and hell,
about the glorious, eternal call
that came from Jesus Lord, who took the gall
and drank His Father’s righteous wrath so well…?
Eternity lies open now: all those
who seek His righteousness by hope, by faith,
by holy zeal (not of themselves), by Him
may enter in. And there, some day, in throes
of joy, we’ll worship while the fading wraith
of death and sin, and all but Christ, grows dim.
Hello, and welcome to my blog. Since the sole purpose for this is to publish (in the purest sense of the word) some of the poetry that I've been scribbling away at in corners for the last ten years, I thought I should start by making a simple statement about why I write, and what I strive to write about.
I've been writing as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I dreamed of writing a novel some day. I never really thought I would be writing poetry, but in time it became clear to me that a) I'm not very good at novels, b) I didn't want to write one anyway and that c) poetry was the best medium available to me to write about the things I did want to write about--Jesus, and Scripture, and theology. Poetry is, for me, a way to explore the mysterious truths of Holy Writ, and to use my mind and reason while yet tapping into the imagination and emotion that God has given every person. The Bible itself is full of poetry, and while mine will never rival it, I take it as an indication that poetry is something natural for mankind, and that, when used to glorify Him, pleasing to God.
My goal is never to try to add to Scripture some mystery or beauty or excitement that it doesn't have, but rather to show forth the mystery, beauty and excitement that it, more than any other text in history, is so full to brim with. Therefore let the Redeemed (me), say so!
and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south." --Psalm 107:2-3
Why shall we, the Redeemed, say so? What shall
we say? Can we, who died in Adam’s fall
‘til Adam’s greater son rose for us, all
our life in Him—Can we fearfully tell
those still in death, and chained to woe and hell,
about the glorious, eternal call
that came from Jesus Lord, who took the gall
and drank His Father’s righteous wrath so well…?
Eternity lies open now: all those
who seek His righteousness by hope, by faith,
by holy zeal (not of themselves), by Him
may enter in. And there, some day, in throes
of joy, we’ll worship while the fading wraith
of death and sin, and all but Christ, grows dim.
Hello, and welcome to my blog. Since the sole purpose for this is to publish (in the purest sense of the word) some of the poetry that I've been scribbling away at in corners for the last ten years, I thought I should start by making a simple statement about why I write, and what I strive to write about.
I've been writing as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I dreamed of writing a novel some day. I never really thought I would be writing poetry, but in time it became clear to me that a) I'm not very good at novels, b) I didn't want to write one anyway and that c) poetry was the best medium available to me to write about the things I did want to write about--Jesus, and Scripture, and theology. Poetry is, for me, a way to explore the mysterious truths of Holy Writ, and to use my mind and reason while yet tapping into the imagination and emotion that God has given every person. The Bible itself is full of poetry, and while mine will never rival it, I take it as an indication that poetry is something natural for mankind, and that, when used to glorify Him, pleasing to God.
My goal is never to try to add to Scripture some mystery or beauty or excitement that it doesn't have, but rather to show forth the mystery, beauty and excitement that it, more than any other text in history, is so full to brim with. Therefore let the Redeemed (me), say so!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
