Residue

The residue

Of a tear or two

Drying on my face

On reading of

The Lord of Love

Dying in my place

What can I do

My Lord for you

To thank you for such grace?

But to die with you

And be made new

And the cross embrace

My name is known

Like your love is shown

Both tattooed on your palm

You calmed the storm

And rescued me from harm

Whisper

On the eve before the victorious battle

The enemy sent out his spies

Into their camps,

Dressed in disguise

Around their campfires he planted gossipers

Into the tents of the warriors

He sent the whisperers

The story tellers

He told stories

Of contentedness

Of discontentedness

Why should I die?

But that was the lie

The living that followed

The night of abandonment

Was not fit to be called life

And the whispers continued

Into the night

And in the morning

Who was left to fight?

Though None Go

Though none go with me

In this Gethsemane

Though they are with me

They sleep and do not see

The path of suffering

I must walk with thee

Nearer my God.

But as far away as I can be

Though none go

I Follow

My God, My God,

I still will Follow

If It is possible

Take this cup from me

If it were possible

Maybe this doesn't have to be

But if this is what you require to see

Then Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani

But no My God, You have not forsaken me

Not my will, but yours be done eternally,

Though none go

I follow

Jawline

I thumb my way around this flesh,

Feeling for the bone beneath,

Like reaching for the floor with my feet,

Like sea swimming and finding the land,

Hand to face, 

To face the fluid feel of the flesh,

To feel it give way to the certainty,

The solidity of this borderline,

This jaw of mine,

Once more clearly defined,

Outlined with pimpled adolescent skin,

Now submerged beneath the surface,

Covered with fat and fur,

I feel with finger and thumb

Trace the bone at the base of my face,

As I have done

As I will have done

Most of my adult life,

This is what will be left of me,

When I have left,

What I will become,

Like it was going anywhere,

I'm just checking it's still there,

Like I knew it was,

In part,

The shape of my future