There And Back Again
For Lent this year, we decided to try composing a family poem. This was an interesting and lively challenge. It mostly involved the boys coming up with words they thought we should incorporate as we discussed themes of hurt, sin, salvation, and redemption. Benaiah also practiced his rhyming skills and came up with some phrases that worked and Megan of course wanted to utilize the word game. Most of the hard labor was done by Lance though; he was the poetic architect.
Though it is after Easter, we hope you can still read it and remember.
There and Back Again
A Lenten Tale
We are all made from dust
And behind us, beauty made ashes
Driven by greed and lust
Our souls writhe, mine thrashes
In my chest, my heart crashes
To others, I cause agony, my own despair
Against the innocent, my tongue lashes
Eyes squint against holy glare
At darkness rather, the sunken stare
Brows casting dark shadows on desire
Love given, love received, ever rare
Eye and hand and stomach conspire
Picking need-filling fruit from the mire
The bite that only brings shame
Draws the flickering flame to burning fire
Wrong around me, others to blame
Erecting farcical thrones, my unholy game
All beneath, small within my keen gaze
Though my passion's violence I try to tame
Mind's eye, each one, I set them ablaze
No, not one can stand while being appraised
Deeds of others displayed on my lofty hill
My own, concealed with in a dense haze
Touch it and hear me loud, and shrill
I stand alone, fortifications set with skill
Ambition driven, my soul lets none in
Who will dare enter my bastille
At all ends, I shall surely win
I stand alone, fortifications set with skill
Bound tight writhing in this snake skin
In the end a slave by my own will
All my best ends, pathways to sin
No, not one can stand while being appraised
Deeds rung up, I've received my bill
Concealing fog burned away by truth's rays
Vanity stripped bare, my tongue stands still
Erecting farcical thrones, my unholy game
Judgement's keen view, others pained by my ways
Violence unbridled, deed's testimony proclaim
Through judging others, its the eye's mind that decays
Picking need-filling fruit from the mire
Taste's variated diversions causing regret all the same
Pleasure snuffed, revealed as a liar
Wrong around me points to my name
At darkness rather, the sunken stare
Dark shadows, they demand and inquire
Love given, love received, hearts prepare
Freely accepting what flesh can't acquire
In my chest, my heart crashes
Damage caused, recognition of error
A repeat of what I've done, my will now clashes
Towards the holy gaze, set to Christ in prayer
We are all made from dust
And behind us beauty from ashes
Growing seed from rust
Our souls alive, with holy adorned sashes