Ephesians 5 Poem

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I was proud and alone
Split the marrow, shatter the bone
His hands gathered splinters,
Pressing gently from the ash.
Trash into treasured child,
Our treasures now are trash.

And when we laid it out
On the altar where it burned,
The scent of the sacrifice.
The lessons that we learned
Rose with wafting pleasure
To heaven, and to God
It was absolutely nothing
It was everything we had.

Burnt the untrue word
Burnt the ragged shirt.
Burnt the clench of anger
Burnt the mocking smirk
Burnt the flippant turning
From the suffering of others.
Burnt the blindness that kept us
From seeing our own brothers
Burnt the comfortable chair.
The last, as it burned, sending sparks into the air.

And leaving all we were

Upon the soot-stained floor.
We arise, not less, but more.
A shining, glittering thing.
Duty, yes, to every cell, a promise.
Beauty, too, and know this
That God has formed us together
No longer two alone
A humble reproduction of the
Love that was his own.

So when the ghosts come whispering
Of two long gone lonely souls,
Banish with this thought
Those cold and doubting spectres:

There is no room for ghosts
In the space where our hands meet.
The bire, our bed
The fire, our sheets.
Recall then, the conflagration of the self
And the holiness of a creation
That began as destruction.

Filled so full of sacrificial love
That every step echoes with
It's gracious song.
A gift for a gift,
Not a wrong for a wrong.

From His face we learn the truth:
That truth from His eyes shone,
Whatever the circumstance
We will never be alone.