Saturday, November 19, 2011

A mutual sobriety

A mutual sobriety                                                                     

Ages ago I was stone.  You began
shaping me into a human being.

With that same great chisel and hammer,
I’m now being reduced to dust.

O Lord, it’s hard sometimes, to keep my chin up
under the rain of Your blows.

We have to stop meeting like this!
A few hours of carousing –

I’m hung-over, despondent for weeks.
This morning, I found

bits of clarity at the bottom of my cup –
I have no right to desire,

nor should I expect to stumble through
every hour, drunk on Your bliss.

We have work to do
that demands a mutual sobriety.

You, the sculptor with Your careful dismantling;
me, the stone – holding steady.

O child of God, the Beloved serves His wine
for medicinal purposes only.
His hammer blows chisel away the false.

                       (from A Jewel in the Dust)

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