Psalm 5, A Response Poem
This is a combined reflection on Psalm 5 as well as one of my poems for "finish year."
The pious wake up at dawn,
Stretch their legs over the side of the bed,
Reach for the KJV on top of the dresser,
And open the well-worn-but-well-kept book
To where a satin ribbon marks their place.
If common (mis)perceptions are upheld,
I am not pious, healthy, wealthy, or wise.
I wake up after the third snooze,
And the first utterance out of my mouth
Is neither praise nor prayer,
But a groan.
And yet God hears.
In the morning he hears my
Tired, groggy,
(half-complaining if I'm honest)
Groan.
He hears, Remembering,
That the Spirit Himself
Interceeds With Groans
And together our groaning
Is offered up before God.
A sacrifice.
I wait.
I watch.
There is no fire from heaven to shame the prophets of Baal.
There is no lightning from the mountain.
Torches do not pass to and fro between the halves.
But I do not watch with bated
Breath or Trepidation
Knowing that the sacrifice was accepted long ago
After 3 days and an empty tomb.
It is the dawn for which I wait.
It will come.
The answer to the promise already given
But not yet fulfilled.
The evil prosper, but not forever.
Likewise, God's children groan
Along with creation
In the pangs of childbirth.
Watching,
Bowing down toward the holy temple
In fear of a Holy God.
He blesses the righteous
Though there are none,
No, not one,
But he has declared righteous
Those who take refuge in Him
And those
Who seek first His righteousness.
They shall not bear their guilt
or fall by their own counsels.
They shall not be cast out by their trangressions,
For the Lamb has taken their transgressions from them,
Farther than
The East
Is from the West.
So let them sing with joy.
Let them praise him in song
Raising up
A joyful noise.
(And, yes,
for some of us, the singing is
"noise," indeed.)
Let them exalt the One
Who blesses the unrighteous
With righteousness.
Let them love the One who
Taught them love
While they were yet unloveable,
By first being Love, Himself.
The pious wake up at dawn,
Stretch their legs over the side of the bed,
Reach for the KJV on top of the dresser,
And open the well-worn-but-well-kept book
To where a satin ribbon marks their place.
If common (mis)perceptions are upheld,
I am not pious, healthy, wealthy, or wise.
I wake up after the third snooze,
And the first utterance out of my mouth
Is neither praise nor prayer,
But a groan.
And yet God hears.
In the morning he hears my
Tired, groggy,
(half-complaining if I'm honest)
Groan.
He hears, Remembering,
That the Spirit Himself
Interceeds With Groans
And together our groaning
Is offered up before God.
A sacrifice.
I wait.
I watch.
There is no fire from heaven to shame the prophets of Baal.
There is no lightning from the mountain.
Torches do not pass to and fro between the halves.
But I do not watch with bated
Breath or Trepidation
Knowing that the sacrifice was accepted long ago
After 3 days and an empty tomb.
It is the dawn for which I wait.
It will come.
The answer to the promise already given
But not yet fulfilled.
The evil prosper, but not forever.
Likewise, God's children groan
Along with creation
In the pangs of childbirth.
Watching,
Bowing down toward the holy temple
In fear of a Holy God.
He blesses the righteous
Though there are none,
No, not one,
But he has declared righteous
Those who take refuge in Him
And those
Who seek first His righteousness.
They shall not bear their guilt
or fall by their own counsels.
They shall not be cast out by their trangressions,
For the Lamb has taken their transgressions from them,
Farther than
The East
Is from the West.
So let them sing with joy.
Let them praise him in song
Raising up
A joyful noise.
(And, yes,
for some of us, the singing is
"noise," indeed.)
Let them exalt the One
Who blesses the unrighteous
With righteousness.
Let them love the One who
Taught them love
While they were yet unloveable,
By first being Love, Himself.
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