Repentance

Kindle a new fire
on the first day
lit from the cold ashes
of my sordid past.

Tear all that lingers
seared on my flesh.
Bring me away, bleached
bones, from long sands’ reach.

Remove this despair.
Unleash my fear.
Wed faith to my cries.
I have left thy side.

Bring me to ashes,
bent neath the dust
in a blackened robe
rough, bitter and cold.

These wandering eyes
my beating heart,
call them to new death.
End this endless breath.

Blind me with your hand.
Diminish me
into the shadow
behind the cold stone,

pierced and famished,
alone in ashes,
till you recall me
parched for want of thee.

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This comes from the sermon today on Jonah 3:5-9 and Psalm 51.  Repentance.