The Hand that Saves

Saving sword, cast your spell on me

pull the filth which sticks

peel the filth from my eyes

Heal the wounds of my pride

Pierce the evil in my heart

and with your love and peace fill me

Do not abandon me to the enemy

though I’m oppressed and ignorant, offer me your hand

turn not from me in my disheveled state

look not on me with shame

lest my shame overtake me

But your eyes are filled with love

and I stand naked in your presence

your light burns and I wish to flee

my fickle heart, where should you run to?

If I were to see clearly the state of my soul

would I shed a tear or clench my teeth?

Why does it hurt to see so clearly?

So I push your hand away.

Does my wickedness know no limit?

Yet your hand extends throughout the Earth

O saving grace and divine justice

violate the cosmic law of free will

Bind me up and save me

lest worse overtake me

Your scent is sweet yet quickly fleeting

I grasp to hold you

yet like a silk scarf you slip through my hands

and you leave me in the dust

so I can accept your necessity

Yet the fear does not vanish from my heart

I stand in eagerness for your footsteps

yet I sleep on your return

and when I awake, you are already gone

What can describe you but love?

For what reason do you come to men?

and what can better explain your nature

than the saving love of your Son?

We tread on misery, the whole world in chains

The sun shines, but the world in us is darkness

and your grace stands as the knight of battle

Who are we then, O saving wonder?

if we are enemies to ourselves

and the fires of hell demand our downfall?

I know not anything

just that I am far from you

restless and wretched

my soul yearns for an answer in the depths of starving agony

The road is narrow, covered with thorns

I must die so you must be born in me

yet I desire to live so profoundly?

Is this a trick?

Your Son on the cross became rotting flesh

and I stand to grasp my own, to kill myself.

What mountains I must climb

and giant enemy fortresses must burn down.

But I am soft and weak. The sound of the sword sends shivers down my spine

and the agony of my soul cries out like a newborn.

O Lord, send your hand forth and shield me.

But you only require a simple yes

and to this I can consent to.

Let fear not overtake me like your mother, O Lord

and sit in perfect silence.