The context of the poem was that someone I was rather close to was furiously, horribly, intensely upset with someone else.
The Damage You Do
I'm not saying that I don't have blind spots, too.
I just want to express
(to cry out before it devours you)
that I see one of yours.
And I wouldn't bring it up,
I wouldn't mention it
except I see what it does to you
and what it's doing to others.
And it makes me so incredibly sad
so mortified that this has come to pass
that I want to come at you
screaming
and railing
and pounding you
...until you see.
But screaming, railing & pounding
only make the turtle
disappear behind his armor.
So I know I must become gentle
and patient,
an apt teacher.
I need to mirror you to yourself
in such a way
that you will see with your own eyes
the damage you do.
And I need to plead before God
that he will unshutter your eyes
and melt your heart
and teach you once again
of the depth and form of his forgiveness,
enabling you to forgive.
I'm not saying that I don't have blind spots, too.
I just want to express
(to cry out before it devours you)
that I see one of yours.
And I wouldn't bring it up,
I wouldn't mention it
except I see what it does to you
and what it's doing to others.
And it makes me so incredibly sad
so mortified that this has come to pass
that I want to come at you
screaming
and railing
and pounding you
...until you see.
But screaming, railing & pounding
only make the turtle
disappear behind his armor.
So I know I must become gentle
and patient,
an apt teacher.
I need to mirror you to yourself
in such a way
that you will see with your own eyes
the damage you do.
And I need to plead before God
that he will unshutter your eyes
and melt your heart
and teach you once again
of the depth and form of his forgiveness,
enabling you to forgive.
and there you go making me cry again.
ReplyDeletethank you.
May I just say this is one of the best poems I've read all year Meg. I found the link from Meirav's site. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDelete~*Thanks*~
ReplyDelete'aw, thanks you guys.
ReplyDeletei think the poem kinda gets at the heart of christianity -- not entirely, but a bit. our natural reaction in a situation like this is to get frustrated and yell something like, "you idiot!!!! don't you see that this is something you'll regret some day?! or worse yet, something you'll never regret, but instead you'll grow into a bitter old man over!" but Jesus didn't come as a yeller and a hater, telling us all how wrong we are. he came as a teacher, and he explained with stories so we'd get to the very core and depth of how wrong we are, but we'd feel his arms around us as he explains it, rather than feeling like we're getting a poke in the eye.
and we're to go and do likewise. i've had a lot of epiphanies in my christian walk, but this is probably one of the greatest of them, and one of the hardest to actually follow through on.
amen to all that you said.
ReplyDeleteit reminds me of an old Jewish saying, which I'm struggling to translate well - it sounds so poetic in Hebrew - but it's something like:
the shy one can't learn
and the strict one can't teach
in other words - or at least how I understand it - if you're too shy to ask questions you won't learn anything, and if you're too strict with your pupils they won't be able to learn much from you.
Very true I suppose. I've been told many times I shouldn't too too hard (strict) on my sons.
ReplyDelete