"Distance Between Good & Evil" by giovannimariatommaso
Even, as it bends us low,
& gently shuffles us to sorrow,
transporting our every whim
& desire downwards, into the valley
of the pit of Gehenna,
how is it, dear Lord,
that by this pain
we bear upwards to You
does praise & glorify, even,
as it bends us low,
deeply low in sorrow?
Is it true, that we truly would not,
not know, Your pain & suffering,
were it not for the slowly dying aging process
that seemingly seems to overtake us,
body & mind, overwhelming the blind soul?
O sense of loss, abandonment by Father.
True, we so easily forget, so easily forget,
how You took it upon Yourself, the cross,
for the salvation for all mankind;
the agony, the flagellation, the piercing thorns,
the mocking & the spittle, the jesting & taunting,
the degrading shouting of titles, & reed whipping,
the carrying of the cross & falling three times.
The thrusting down upon the wood beams, of
a youthful body tortured; raw flesh, open flesh,
bleeding exposed flesh, pulled & scraped, torn
by taunting manhandling thieves of Life.
On the edge of the rim of despair, we too cry,
‘Eli, Eli, into Your Hands I commend my spirit’.
This distance is unfathomable, inconceivable, &
void of existence, dead! O, blessed distance,
wherefore we wed at the table of Truth, the
table of wine & bread; O, Bread of Heaven.
Truly, we do not know flagellation,
the mental, physical, spiritual, meanness,
the absolute degradation, the humiliation & shame.
The weight You bore, becoming sin for all mankind,
lifted up for all mankind to see, O shame, shame.
Let us fall under this real guilt, this real shame.
Let us climb steep Golgotha, stripped, tossed, nailed.
Hands & feet, cold metal spikes with mallot pounded
down hard, plummeted anguish & pain into psyche.
As criminal, slave, ward of state & church, You went,
for all mankind; You bore; You went to the Cross.
For all mankind to see. Wheezing, coughing, catching breath,
as the wooden beam was thrust up to fall into the pivot hole,
to slide & to sink. The heaviness of body, the loss of blood,
only made You more determined to show & to teach gentleness
& love, to the perpetrators & bystanders & thieves, that the Son
did not come to judge but to feed His flock Bread from Heaven.
Into the valley
of the pit of Gehenna,
transporting our every whim
& desire downwards,
how is it, dear Lord,
that by this pain of age,
even as it bends us low
deeply low in sorrow, it
does praise & glorify; as we
serve You in our neighbor, & love
one another, as You have loved us.
(2014)
Author Notes
This distance is unfathomable, inconceivable, &
void of existence, dead! O, blessed distance,
wherefore we wed at the table of Truth, the
table of wine & bread; O, Bread of Heaven.
