• Share

  Tweet

• how it works
• 

---

Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: GRATE (11/19/15)

---

• TITLE: The Face | Previous Challenge Entry
  By Dave Walker
  11/24/15
• 
  
  
    LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
    SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
    ADD TO MY FAVORITES

---

His face was hard and battle-scarred
His narrowed eyes were filled with hate
He looked at me, then looked away
The man behind the grate.

I smiled at him and said hello
The cold eyes didn't hesitate
He faced my stare, then gave a scowl
The man behind the grate.

I wondered what had put him there
What evil did he perpetrate
To send him into solit'ry
Alone behind the grate.

It's usual when we go to pray
And walk the prison floors till late
To see the faces and the hands
Pressed hard against the grate.

They want the touch they want to see
Who's come -- who doesn't hesitate
To show His love and Christ-like care
To those behind the grate.

But in that solitary cell
A man who roared against his fate
Sat eaten up with bitterness
And glowered through the grate.

It seemed to me that as I looked
I saw like a precipitate
The smut of evil clinging to
The crossbars of the grate.

Then ... in the face behind the bars
I thought I saw a child of eight
Being bruised and beaten, kicked and cursed
Brought up on fear and hate.

And then I saw another face
The Man who sealed my fate
He too was beaten mocked and scorned
Like that behind the grate.

Lord Jesus You have been with him
His sin -- You bore its weight
You know the pain behind the scowl
Of him behind the grate.

Be with him now, he needs your love
To melt his pain so great
Embrace him with Your nail-pierced hands
Let love replace his hate.

Imprisoned in that lonely cell
Let all his fear abate
Be with him, let him feel you sit
With him behind the grate.

He can be free, he can rejoice
He can appreciate
A Lord, a Savour and a Friend
Who's with him by the grate.

For everything that he's endured
You can ameliorate
Though he's restrained by prison bars
You are the way, the Gate.

You melt a raging heart of stone
That seeks to make men quake
And take him through the Gate, to heav'n
Far from the fiery Lake.

You're with him in his prison cell
You'll set him free and take
His spirit to a spacious place
While still behind the grate.

---

---

---

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

---

Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.

---