"Departure rehearses death." John
Updike Leavings
I.
Gomer left Hosea Panting after adulterous lovers.
The prodigal left home
Tramping after cheap thrills.
And I walked away from You
Into adulterous and apostate imaginations.
Lives
like table scraps,
Leavings
to be disposed of,
To
rot, to decay,
These
departures led into dying.
The
death of dreams and hope,
And
self.
II.
Like
Gomer on the block
Shackled
by her own disillusionment;
Like
the prodigal among swine
Groveling
in senseless despair
After
feeding his soul on garbage;
I
came seeking undeserved mercy,
Knowing
in some deep memory
That
You would still be there
To
buy me back from my demon master.
Not
with silver and barley, but blood,
And
heal my fragmented being,
Clothing
me in the many colors or Your love.
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