Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Write in the POETRY genre (05/17/07)
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TITLE: In Excelsis Deo | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kenneth Bridge
05/20/07 -
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From nothingness He calls all things,
From darkness, light
Which separates day from night.
While a celestial choir of angels sings
From clay of earth, He gives Man birth,
And breathes in life, and gives him wife,
And charges him to rule the land,
Faithful to divine command
Beware the tree
Whose fruit
Instead of truth
Brings death
Ruing the loss of a greater wisdom,
Ruled by self, not self-ruled kingdom,
The sting of serpent’s tongue brings lethal venom
Loss of home, loss of heaven,
Lamenting exile, mourning of days without rest
Prophets speak of law and grace
Clasped in covenant embrace
To reverse the curse, from death to life
The Anointed King and Priest will rise
Et Filii
In the shadow of Herod’s crime,
Brought forth in fullness of time,
A Son is born, O glorious morn,
Grief is swallowed, our sin is borne.
Brief season of ancient spring,
Where life and hope take feathery wing
And returns from exile see their king,
As demons flee and angels sing.
From Galilee to Jerusalem the humble shepherd leads His flock
In the Temple
Tables turn and coins spill
Stampeding bleating stock
Incensed curators of unholy tradition,
Seek Roman punishment for sedition,
Seder past, darkness falls, torch bearing soldiers clutch Him in the dock
Heaven weeps as mercy sleeps
The veil is sundered as heaven thundered
Entrance to the Holy at appalling cost
The paschal lamb upon the cross.
On the first day of the rest of the world are wet tears wiped dry
Tarry now, in the holy city, until clothed with power from on high!
Et Spiritus Sancti
Breathing on troubled seas,
He brings the shapes and forms of God to life
Wisdom rejoices at His side
Prophets moved to make His pleas
His words, His promises, a holy fire
Like a mighty rushing wind
Spirit of God does descend
Like flames of fire from above
Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Love
His people first gathered, then dispersed
To proclaim the undoing of the curse
Return from exile, life from death
Eternal joy, eternal rest
With both power and constraint
Each believer made a saint
Set apart for holy living
Set upon and yet forgiving
His life lived through each and all
Chosen to extend the call,
Gifted to give each life to live
In proclamation of the story
That to God be all the glory
In Excelis Deos
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Thanks for sharing, I appreciated this one.
Good job.
Set upon, yet holy living"
are my favorite lines.
Wonderful poem with deep meaning! Excellent work!
Two places come to mind because it felt so flawless these stuck out to me.
The first - I just bobbled on this, 'Seder past, darkness falls, torch bearing soldiers clutch Him in the dock' - I can't tell you why - maybe it was just word choice.
The second I'm wondering if another line was needed after the word 'curators' or minus the word 'of' - 'Incensed curators of unholy tradition,'
This was awesome!