Lenten Poem

Wild wood wilderness;
So tempted by the bitterness;
Smoke and drink washed emptiness
Come, oh come sweet tenderness
Fill this hole over.

So confused, alone, and cloistered.
In one hand the world, my oyster,
A pilgrim’s shell proves only a coaster
Flat and stained upon the table bolstered.
Heaven cover over.

The cold stone of this tower in rage
A smoke stack over Pittsburgh, not a cage
Fuelled by doctrine’s page by page
Rising towards the sky from age to age
Pillar of fire stands over.

Burning into the wee hours of the night
Refining, reshaping, re-pressing it’s Light
Only uncertainty in sight
Of what’s been certain through the might
Brokenness ain’t over,

Up from underneath the walls close in
From above the air is trim
This bed and your itching skin
The wall beside me paper-thin
When will this be over?

Staring straight into the deep,
One more promise that won’t keep
There is no sleep, nothing to eat
A nobler man there once did seat,
Help me move over.

Another lie for feelings sake
Against that Wall that will not break
I can’t comprehend how you forsake
The Cup in my hands can’t stop the shake
My cup runneth over.

In this world I long to flee
I fall and Fall in misery
Down, down, down to the pit for me
So much snow for eyes to see
Hell has frozen over.