I asked a hoary headed man,
Whose face was haggard, worn and wan,
Scarred with the marks of many a strife
If he could tell me what is life.
He sighed and drooped his withered head,
And leaning on his staff he said:
“Life is a scene of toil and pain,
A search for pleasure or for gain,
A few short years of joys and sorrows,
A race to catch the bright tomorrows,
A flickering flame, a transient gleam,
A bubble passing down the stream,
A flower doomed to swift decay–
To bud and bloom and pass away.
Life is the little space we crave
Between the cradle and the grave,
And soon we cross the little space
And terminate the toilsome race,
Then wearied, we resign our breath,
And life is swallowed up in death.”
If death, said I, must end the strife
Such wretched living can’t be life,
For who could bear thro’ night to grope
Were there no morn to cheer his hope?
Your life is death and cannot be
The life immortal craved by me.
I ask’d a Saint, whose joylit face
Assur’d me of his inward grace,
If he could solve the question sought
And satisfy my anxious thought.
A gleam of hope illum’d his brow,
While with a reverential bow
He said: “‘Tis life to know the Lord
And Christ, the true and living word.
This life of faith, or life divine,
Or everlasting life is mine;
‘Tis life to triumph over death,
He lives who knows his sins forgiven,
He only lives, who lives for heaven.
There must be first a death of sin
Before you have this life within,
But when the earnest you obtain
To live is Christ, to die is gain.
I know this mortal house of clay
Will soon dissolve and pass away,
Then my immortal soul shall rise
To endless life beyond the skies.”
Said I, if thus to live be life
Then let me rush into the strife,
And live to Him whose grace divine
Can quicken this dead soul of mine,
And give me life and conquering faith
To triumph over sin and death.
Artist: Bradley Hathaway
Title: The Hug Poem
I read about how you touched them and they were healed
Or even if someone just touched your cloak they were forever changed
You let a broken women bathe your feet in her tears
And you washed your best friend’s feet
I am just wondering though did you just ever hug people
I mean I know that it is a silly question and all I am sure you would have why wouldn’t you
But its one of those things that was never mentioned that got me thinking about it
And how whenever there was a touch from you sins were forgiven and sickness fell
I think I’m caught up in my sins last time I checked all my body parts were properly working, nothing special here
I am just a kid with a heavy heart these passing sunrises and sunsets
I don’t think our encounter would have ended up in the gospels or anything
Because all I really need is a hug
That is ok for me to imagine right
That’s not going to be conflicting with any sort of theology is it
Ok good, then hug me
But not one of these side ways one arm around the neck type hugs
Or the ghetto right hand clasp fists elbows to chest pit pat on the back back
Or you put your right arm over my right arm and I put my left arm over your left arm and we make this weird sort of diagonal thing
Nah none of those
BEAR HUG ME MAN
Take your old school carpenter arms and throw them over my upper body leaving my arms dangling underneath yours somewhere and I can barely move them because your squeezing so hard
But don’t pick me up and make my back pop because I hate it when people do that
And hold me, hold me here in your arms until I start to cry because
I WANT TO CRY
But I just can’t seem to do it on my own
I have been teary eyed once recently but not even enough for a drip down my cheek
Theres just hurt in my soul that needs to be purged so hold me in this hold pose until the pain is flowing from my eyes and nose
Three months in Italy… say less!
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