April is National Poetry Month.
Here's a good chunk of horrifying self awareness
Before Jesus wakes up on Sunday.
As the Ruin Falls -- CS Lewis
All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.
Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love – a scholar's parrot may talk Greek –
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.
Only that now you have taught me (but how late!) my lack
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.
For this I bless you as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.
Apr 11, 2009
Poetry Month: As The Ruin Falls
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4 comments:
Not horrifying. Just naked. And as beautiful as penance always is. Thanks, Susan. I had not seen this before. Where did you find it?
Amazing poem... I haven't seen this in a long time. Raw, beautiful, and painfully true.
This is one of my favorite poems, Suz, but I hadn't read it in several years. Thanks for reminding me why I loved it so much. (Christy T.)
I just finished reading your book last night and I'm sad it's over. I wish I had read it a few weeks earlier because I would have done anything to get over to Evangel in Portland to see you. I didn't know what I was missing. Thank you for sharing your story...I feel like I know you so well!
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