The Detained

 

Who has died and gone to the side of Christ,

That does not make intercession,

For all the people

He has failed in life?

 

Who can stand in Purgatory’s flame,

And cease to cry out

For loved ones

Left in Time?

 

God hears the cry of the poor,

And who is poorer

Than the abandoned,

And detained at the threshold of Heaven,

Awaiting the forgiveness of those,

Who are careless of their fate?

 

No one goes to Heaven alone.

The cleansed and the holy,

Grab the tassles

Of your prayer shawl.

 

Lower your eyes.

Beat your breast.

Forget yourself.

Remember the family of God.

 

Together let us

Praise the Living God,

Who waits in Mercy for mercy,

For He calls all

To be His own.

 

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

 

 

 

 

Truth’s Army, Truth’s Bride

Truth was never far away.
It stood erect,
And with resolve,
Waited for the moment
Of my will’s consent.

It was relentless,
Devoid of error,
Stalwart and persistent.

Truth was the beacon
On the high mountain.
It appealed to me
On the level of the good.

It drew me
As home beckons the lost.
I journeyed closer,
But as the light
Revealed my tatters
I drew back,
Trapped by my choices.

Truth is a wedding garment,
That clothes inwardly,
As well as out.
My espousals never produced
A marriage of Truth and the holy.
In its stead, I’d wed
What I wanted.
Now, I feared our distance,
And what I had become.

Desiring the right,
Even if I was wrong,
I gathered courage to my breast
And risked all in the quest.

I shed my rags
And found a covering of prayer,
A robe of humility,
And came to Love
In holy fear.

Now, I am
Full of resolve,
A stalwart knight
On Truth’s high mountain,
Carrying lighted torch
To the Dark Valley,
Into caverns of deception.

Standing tall before the Foe,
Truth girds my waist,
And undertakes to speak
Light in the darkness.

I am become an army
On the plain,
As Truth marches not alone.
It goes forth,
Drawing with it men of valor,
Choosing the death of Pride,
And living as Truth’s Bride.

©2012 Joann Nelander
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