Oh wicked wretch that I am-

Seething, grasping, lecherous fool.

How I drain the draft of the damned!

How I allow the aimless appetite to rule!

Oh forgetful, sleeping sinner!

Slinging aside the whole of Truth!

Greedy sins spill from my center-

Lusts of flesh and sins of youth.

O Great Salvation, apply Your balm!

Scrub, scrape, scour off this crud.

Imbed me in Your bloody palm-

Cleanse me in Your flowing blood.

Forgive me all my sins and stains.

I justly deserve death from Your hand.

I throw myself atop Your pains-

Unable to plead, unable to stand,

Deal with me as You desire.

Remember I am dust and sin.

Heal me, or cauterize with fire,

Only do not leave me to the hands of men.

I am wicked, but I am Yours.

Comfort my conscience again.

Who can restore the former glory?
The young sing and dance
Around this shell, this crude reminder,
They call beauty, as entranced.

Who would rob the hopeful babes,
Let beauty be seen where it can,
But we who held our temple proud
Will weep to the very last man.

Who can restore the former glory
Once it has been defaced?
Who can restore the innocence
Our aged hands debased?

We neither deserved deliverance,
Nor strictly grace postulate.
Is this an irreconcilable difference,
Or are we just obstinate?

Authority issues on both sides,
Waiting for humility from each other,
We use what unites to divide.
We use our freedom to smother.

I know from personal history,
It’s better to humble yourself,
Than be humbled. The mystery
Pursues long term health.

Short term thoughts chew,
And I have had this meal before.
It doesn’t taste like truth.
We must be meant for more.

So the truth is we are brothers,
And even fighting, still we share
In something far beyond us,
And undeserved: co-heirs.

There’s no home for intimidation
Inside reconciliation,
And family must embrace
Deepest when facing
Deep differences.
Love shows no belligerence,
But patience and humility.
Love is what we are called to be,
Called and empowered,
For He has showered us

With grace upon grace.

Even while we never set it down,
Or lose it, or forget the sounds,
There are better songs than love and loss.

A child’s open outburst, caution after,
Because she’s learned to fear laughter,
But for a moment it peals free.

Repentance wrenching honesty
From the depths of tragedy,
And pulling beauty out of ashes.

A man putting aside his appetites,
To feed the starved, which satisfies
Them both together.

A crumpled woman, under condemnation,
Who stands forgiven inside salvation,
Treasured for once and forever.

I’ve seen these bits of heaven realized,
They make this mortal coil, this great enterprise,
Worth all the time and breath,

And years and tears and loss.

Words, words,
I keep you close, fling you away
When I get old, get scared
Of what you will say,
Of what he heard.

Don’t lean on what bends,
What needs to bend before it breaks,
We’re too cool to admit
Pressure we can’t take, can’t shake,
Can’t confess as sin.

Ample warnings.
I am what I assumed,
What I admitted, what I anticipated,
I tremble as I consume,
Fire in the storming.

Falling
Only one safety net, but He
Spreads through tragedy and joy
Before the dawn of history,
All God, All King.

I knew the tumble was rough,
One long and constant rodeo
Of the too much and not enough.

I knew the coast was never clear,
One strandline of sea debris
In winter wind, in air austere.

I know tomorrow warmth will come,
Some rays breaking over foreign clay,
Rocks giving way to the rising Sun.
Your mercy, new every day.

I wail against the howling winds.
I know none can hear, not myself,
But I flail anyway, now and then.

I bury today like it didn’t exist.
I throw all my chips on red, on the hope
Your Hand will ever persist.

I know tomorrow the day wakes warm,
Another chance to redeem the time,
Another chance to weather the storm
That takes Your grace and makes it mine.

I know that You’re here, awake and aware.
I stifle myself when the fight sets in,
But I know You are strong, You care,
And I can’t be lost in the cracks again.

Why do I bow where there is no king?
It was never in their authority, nor ability,
Watching from outside everything,
To assumptively appraise the inmost of me.

No more taxes, no more dues,
Where I am no citizen.
You alone, and only You,
Speak informed criticism,

And You speak it in love.