Jesus Speaks to Ears that Hear (villanelle)

Tuesday was World Poetry Day, so I challenged myself to capture some of Jesus’ teachings in in the style of a villanelle.

Sermon of the Beatitudes
 James Tissot, c. 1890

If you have ears to hear, then hear
You are my salt and shining light
Yield not to temptation nor fear

Repent for the kingdom is near
Walk the path that’s not wide but tight
If you have ears to hear, then hear

Store treasures in heaven not here
A choice that requires foresight
Yield not to temptation nor fear

Do not hide beneath a veneer
The pure in heart give me delight
If you have ears to hear, then hear

High is the cost to follow near
But my yoke and burden are light
Yield not to temptation nor fear

Faith you must keep till I appear
Take hold of life, fight the good fight
If you have ears to hear, then hear
Yield not to temptation nor fear

Tis the Season to ponder the Nativity (poem)

Merry Christmas to all. I was reading through the Christmas accounts in Matthew and Luke in the Word for Word Graphic Novel: The Christmas Nativity. I decided to capture the story in anapestic tetrameter.

‘Tis the season of census, when all thro’ the land
every person was trav’ling, by rulers’ command.
To their ancestral home they’ll go to comply.
It’s this rule Joseph and Mary abide by.

The unwed Mary was with child you know
and before this trip she was starting to show.
An angel had told her she was the one favored.
She accepted this, her faith never wavered.
Joseph was sad till an angel did visit
telling him, Mary did nothing illicit.

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Twas a Tale of Two Falls

A theological poem using the rhyme scheme known as anapaestic tetrameter found in Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“ by Gustave Doré

Twas before the beginning when God formed a plan
to create heavens and earth and even a man.
Before earth’s big debut, there was a prior start.
The angels were created and given a part.
Praising the Ancient One in His glorious light. 
The winged creatures serve Him all day, there’s never night.

But wait. How can we know the order of these things?
Can angels rejoice before they’re made by the King?
For eternity has no before or after.
It’s one endless now without former or latter.
Now, if time is the space that’s between two events, 
then to order them ask: when did the clock commence?
Before earth and sky are spoken into being,
what else can give things chronological meaning?

Let’s go back to the start before our inception 
when angels were pure and were without deception.

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