A Poem

[I started writing this poem last summer, and I've been working on it on-and-off since then. I think I'm finally at a point where I can't do any more revising without a fresh pair of eyes. I'd love to hear what you think: whether it's clear, whether the story rings true, etc. Or if you just want to read it and withhold your opinion, that's fine too. :)]


Drunk on pride and arrogance
I stagger on my way.
To bleary eyes this treacherous path
looks well-kept and well-laid.

I tread the path of I-know-best
with eyes willfully blind.
I feast on dust and ashes
and I call it food and wine.

I’m immune to weak-kneed walking
and say blithely, “All is well!”
But I stumble in the thorn-bush
and my cuts of struggles tell.

I sell purity for praises.
I sell wisdom for the song
of a “much devoted” lover—
who will leave my side ‘ere long.

Finally, broken-hearted, bleeding,
tears well up in glassy eyes.
And the piercing shame of failure
shatters all my cheerful lies.

I have treasured trash as riches
and I’ve chewed on stones for bread.
Trying hard for independence,
I have ended up half dead.

But in my weakness there approaches
one well-known but long-ignored.
I have held him at a distance
whom I once acknowledged Lord.

While I chased after my idols,
while I trailblazed my own way,
I learned to stop my ears against
the counsel that he gave.

Now he steadily comes towards me
but, ashamed, I look away.
After all of my rebellion
can I look into his face?

Nonetheless, he treats me kindly
as I stare but at the ground.
And he dresses me in purple
after all my wounds are bound.

At last, I look to see My Helper,
and my eyes in wonder grow
for he’s covered in my thorn-cuts
and he wears my filthy clothes!

But the vision passes quickly
—he’s now dressed in rich array—
But he says, “Have you forgotten
that I carried all that day?”

“I have taken all your sorrows.
I have shouldered all your sins.
Stay not on this road, so hopeless;
come and dwell with me within!”

And he gestures toward a sheepfold
by a river, calm and clear.
And as he bears me toward his kingdom
to his heart he holds me near.

Oh that glorious day of rescue
when he met me on the road!
He did more than bear my failures;
He stooped down to take me home!