Beautiful, Broken Creatures (new poem)

“Some days, some hours, we soar.
Hawks, eagles, miles above sea level, worshiping the splendor below.
The wind lashing around us, we are boundless…complete…

Other times we bleed – dreadful children,
scraping our way through a field of shattered glass and dreams.

Yet we carry on, feigning normalcy;
actors, playing the part assigned to us by the others,

All the while perishing.

All the while feeling as if we’re unique to desperation.

Can no one feel the tears?
Can no one see our heartbreak?
Has no one the same perception of hopelessness we possess?

Hanging in the eternal balance,
somewhere between life and death,

We watch the years tick-tick-tick by,
soul gradually unburdening itself from skeleton,
ever so gently, as mortality snakes in.

Frantic, we grasp the nearest olive branch,
be it friend or foe,
cleaving to any veneer of chance.

As water sashays through our fingers, though,
we frightfully watch our days slip away.

“Life is a vapor,” they say.

Our most acrimonious truth.

Yet the One who created the stars whispers,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by name. You are Mine.” *

The One who spoke the sun and moon into being says,
“It was always My plan to adopt you as My child;
My tremendous love cascades over you!” **

And thus, I implore you, even in your darkness,
hold on to light with a death-grip!

Never give up! Never give in! Never surrender! 

Keep a white-knuckled grasp on faith,
with every ounce of might and vigor you possess!
Never allow love to slink back into the shadows!

For you see, we are all beautiful, broken creatures.
None are without lesion.

The sun will not gleam forever,
and when we do pass through the dim veil of eternity…

Jesus Christ is our only hope of getting out alive.”

* Adapted from Isaiah 43:1

** Adapted from Ephesians 1:5-6