Pain Kissed Me
Mar 5th, 2008 by John
Pain Kissed Me
by
John W Frye
Pain kissed me,
And by the hand led me
To that awful place
Where reality dwells.
Pain embraced me
And held me tightly
Until fantasy comforts
Released their grip
And slinked silently away.
Pain took me
Along the lonely path
Into the valley of many voices
Tuned to sing deeper songs.
To sing the songs of the Lamb
That was slain…
Who was slain.
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If David was a man after God’s heart, the same could be said of you as well. This poem brings up the same melancholy passion that I read in the psalms.
Stephanie,
Wow, thank you. To be associated with the poet David is an honor. Bless you!
i love how the poem progresses from kissing to embracing to taking…an interesting progression of pain, captured in your masterful style, john!
thanks for this,
-jeremy
Jeremy,
I am glad you felt the progression. Did you note the movement from private, individual pain into the valley of many voices (i.e., community)? Thanks for the affirmation.
Great Poem, John.
Thanks for sharing it.
John,
I have been contemplating suffering and joy, where they meet in the Christian life. The more I consider suffering and joy- cross and resurrection- the more I am inclined to think that the Christian life is where all the tensions of life come together and produce something undeniably good. Solidarity, for example, is intrinsically joyous and intrinsically suffering… if we are joined with the right people (who might actually be the wrong people).
This poetic language is the only language which is close to sufficient for such a conversation. It is right to associate this poem with the Psalms. Beautiful!
Danny,
Thanks for your kind words. I enjoyed reading the prayer of St. Athanasius over at “Community of the Risen.” God bless you.
I linked to you site.
Wes,
I was with some friends yesterday and we explored the absence of pain and suffering in the communal life of the church—-people usually suffer in silence. A triumphalistic gospel denigrates the honesty and anguish of many of the biblical laments. Our culture obessed with the therapeutic, equates pain as something horribly wrong. We discussed the very idea of “tension” (which you mention) as critical to a fully-embodied Christian spirituality.