Best Redemption Poems
The Goddess Of Blessed Redemption
She gave me a foundation of love's pleasures
complete with wondrous bountiful measures
she a gentle goddess of golden hues,
swept this heart away, vanquished all its blues.
From a verdant forest spring she arrived
relieving me of life sadly contrived.
None other could love and give any more,
she a goddess sent from paradise shore.
When asked why she came to me to now bless
no words came, my sins too sad to confess.
Yet her Light and Grace healed this broken soul
for this world had taken its heavy toll.
Of Asclepius* blood, healing her art,
body, soul and mind, first target the heart,
faithful daughter, resplendent her warm glow
sent to heal and allow this soul to grow.
She freed my body from its scars and burns
from ghosts of past buried in hidden urns,
the mind confused by treachery and lies
and the soul ready to face its demise.
Her enchanted charm revived my delight
to view the world in a generous light,
for the mind to stand firm, no longer wilt,
with redemption free the burden of guilt.
Once a broken man, forsaken lost soul,
I now stand stoutly with a heart that’s whole.
With Apollo’s blood vibrant are my veins,
by lease of life, released from morbid chains.
Verve restored by Aceso’s healing might
with radiance to end my sorry plight.
Healed with love in atonement of past crimes
with kindness I share life’s eternal chimes.
Collaboration by Robert J. Lindley and Teppo Gren
7-05-2018
(1.) Asclepius*, see note above..
(2.) Aceso’s , ( Aceso (the goddess of the healing process )
(3.)Apollo- Greek Mythology -
Apollo was one of the most versatile of the Greek gods. His domains extended from poetry and music, to light and truth, and archery.
His mother was the Titan Leto, whose tryst with Zeus angered Hera. The Queen of the Gods tormented Leto, sending the monster Python to chase her across the whole world so she could find no safe space to bear her children. However, Leto found safe haven on the isle of Delos and gave birth to Artemis and then Apollo.
*****
Note- With deep gratitude I present this collaboration written with my good friend Teppo Gren. A wonderful friend and truly amazing poet. A sonnet master that awes me with every poem he posts..
I stood as though reborn on mounded dirt,
which seemed so moist it strangely could assuage
the ache from bowels that howled from so much hurt.
Would ground then be my cure or a mirage?
Enticed, I deeply pressed each foot through soil
till they took root and fixed me to a spot.
My ever-thickening trunk served well to foil
the plots of those who’d cut me. . . . they could not!
My limbs, though mighty branches, could not bend;
stubbornly I fought my transplantation.
I weathered storms that God or man might send,
sightless, living long in desolation.
Self preservation did this much for me-
old loved ones passed and I remained a tree.
The Rose of Sharon bled holy red
with a crown of thorns upon His head
His blood flowed through time and space
pleased the Father, covered our disgrace.
How great Thou art, oh spotless Lamb
to suffer for the souls of man
innocent, beaten, torn and scarred
healed by Your stripes from eternal harm.
Believe in the power of the blood
shed freely on that cross above
cleansed and forgiven when we believe
new life is given when we receive.
The Rose of Sharon bled holy red
with a crown of thorns upon His head.
Written 2017
You sockdologizing old man-trap long decayed
where claws curl tight in dust and brittle bone
your lies are hyenas dancing in the flame
their jaws a rattle tearing flesh to stone
their laughter cracks the silence and the name
of truth that bleeds until the world has grown
as hollow as the bones they gnaw upon
each tooth a dagger that breaks the heart to dawn
beneath your skin a hunger spills and swells
its teeth are rust its eyes a fevered glow
it gnashes bone until the broken tells
of sins that fester deep where no one knows
your hollow self a wind that pulls and wells
the hunger of a lion’s endless throes
and in your voice a low and raspy cry
that cracks the earth and cracks the brittle sky
beneath the skin your hunger splits the bone
its grasp a vice that crushes what it seeks
the stars fall silent cold and overthrown
their light consumed in frantic, bloodstreaked streaks
the air is thick with death and poisoned stone
where hunger howls beneath the shadowed peaks
yet still in your trap the pulse of truth will grind
a seed that's sown then left to twist and rise
your walls of lies are dust beneath the weight
of hunger’s edge and all that once was wise
though still you chase the fading spark of fate
your fingers crushed beneath the weight of mind
from soil once cursed where hate was built to last
the truth will rise unbroken and unmasked
for lies may hunt but truth though torn and scarred
is cut deep and rips your sockdologizing heart trap apart
It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured. ~Tacitus
as children
we looked past the world’s artificial trappings
the ravelment of doctrines
and the glaring capitalistic displays
the only criteria was that we’re friends
growing up
the world we inhabited
shrank as we embraced
the rules of others
to fit in
adulthood
meant that we
overrode innate compassion for others
paramount concern
belonging to the right group
often at the expense of many others
leaving a particular religious group
would lead to shunning
even death
lost in this Troxler effect
we have ultimately lost the ability to discern human value
we’re set in our ways
our value compass
eventually deliquesced as it decomposed
like a corpse
how did we become so jaundiced in our outlook
it is obvious
we hate the ones we have wronged
forgiving ourselves is only path to redemption
14 June 2021
Manger Shadow
A shadow lurks behind the manger bed
Swaddled by indifference,
Creeping behind
Lowing cows
And
Bleating sheep,
Power without power raising up a hoary head
While in vanity dim shades attempt to weave
A gloomy thread into the scent
Of frankincense
And
Myrrh;
Endeavoring to cover ears of prophecy,
Encouraging ignorance
With busyness in crowded streets
Of travelers taxed,
Bowed down with burdens;
No Gloria’s heaven sent
As shadows pass in front of starlight
On highways straight
Deserts wild
Mountains leveled
And star-struck strangers
Asking only for directions;
Where flowers,
Blooming in the wilderness,
Lay trampled
Beneath pilgrim’s feet;
Trying to drown out
Amen
And
In Excelsis Deo
Shouted out in triumph
To wide eyes
Keeping watch
Beneath olive trees
Rather
Longing to smother a baby’s breath
With a snarl,
Rejoicing only in the anticipated silence;
To leave no room at the inn
For goodwill
Or
Shalom Eternal
Yet cower in a nightmare’s chaos,
Breath held in,
For a kingdom lost by victory
Already claimed;
Futility, the unwelcomed guest,
Birthing fury
That pounds upon the chest of truth,
Stalking the Word protected
By holiness,
Claiming dice unfairly loaded
To howl
In rage
As justice and as peace now kiss –
As swords and spears
Rise up
As plows and pruning hooks
To tend the vineyard of the King
Then sing out the great glad tidings
On a mountaintop
Where people walk out of darkness
Into light.
This is the story of God's redemption
how He displays His love upon His own
in His masterplan of saving sinful man
His son Jesus Christ came our sins to atone
God looks down on this old world
seeing its sinfulness continues to abound
the good Lord is holy and without sin
He requires a perfect sacrifice to be found
The only perfect sacrifice would be Jesus
the only one that could take away sin
so our sin He took on Calvary's cross
that our salvation from sin He did win
God has here displayed perfect love
taken sinners to His own abode
removing their sin with His dear blood
applying upon HIs elect a secret code
This is the greatest story you have heard
God has saved sinners from hell's destruction
putting His own dear son in their place
paving the way for sinners to gain God's grace
Once
Only once in a dream tornadoes uproot a house
Spinning over black and white fields of corn
Straight through the open arms of a rainbow
Two companions cling way up high above the storm.
Only once in a dream a yellow road
Built of spiraling ochre bricks
Winds away from tender magic and maleficence -
Footprints of paws and prized rubied slippers.
Only once in a dream flying through a rainbow
Only one pilgrimage to hear a bluebird’s rhapsody
Only a lullaby searching for home
Only once in this multi-color reverie.
Only once in a dream quest to a city – emerald green -
New friends - combustible, roaring, rusting -
Through purple forests dusky, enchanted orange poppies seen,
Awake to cold kisses of refreshing snowflakes.
Only once in a dream home holds out its hand
Not held hostage in monkeyed night terrors
Homecoming revealed from behind a curtain
Eyes opened in real time as nightmares melt away.
Only once in a dream flying through a rainbow
Only one pilgrimage to hear a bluebird’s rhapsody
Only a lullaby searching for home
Only once in this multi-colored reverie.
Coda
But,
It’s not about once flying through a rainbow -
Journeys to wizards or a munchkin land –
It’s about a cross – about a nail scarred man –
Who always takes our hand on yellow roads back home.
8-30-20
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Contest: Pick a Title - Vol. 22 - Lyric 2
It's like your world is ending
Everything comes crashing down
Can't catch your breath
Down, down, down you drown
Waking in the morning
To another dreaded day
Going through the hustle
Just to keep the pain at bay
Escaping is what you want
You numb yourself just to survive
Hating the world when you're sober
Hate yourself for getting high
Oh yeah-This hollowed life of lies
Going through the rituals
Crushing up your dreams
Drawing back within yourself
That icy devil makes you scream
The storm rages deep inside
Harboring all your guilt and shame
Fighting a losing battle
You think it's too late to change
You hate the world when you're sober
Hate yourself for getting high
Numbing as a way of living
Living your hollowed life of lies
Then one day you see
Someone who used to use
They were happy
No longer broken and confused
They tell you of a man
Who washed away their sins
They had found peace
Oh yeah- found peace within Him
You were tired of the hatred
You were tired of getting high
You were tired of living
Living your hollowed life of lies
You asked for forgiveness
You were hungry for more
You wanted what they had
They had opened the door
Now you're walking free
Free from the shame and guilt
With Jesus in your heart
You had been rebuilt
No more hating the world
No longer getting high
You laid your pain at His feet
You escaped that hollowed life of lies
Seeking Redemption Beyond The Horizon
While my mind ventures to unravel the origins of human enmities
Craves to stumble upon a most sagacious and diplomatic solution,
We journey on even when decency is absent without good reason.
Vestiges of a dream imbedded in pages shred to miniscule pieces.
Where did the promises that we had sworn to and to abide by go?
Were eyes blinded by a debris of perverted lies creating paranoia?
Transgressions orchestrated for their politically motivated agenda,
Enact crimes against humanity inflating an already distended ego.
There is no end in sight only the sanctimonious blather of the vile
Or those egregious behavior of autocrats and anarchists seditious.
We must beg the Spirit of Justice to lead and champion our cause,
Liberating hearts from dank dungeons where love remain in exile.
Time is of the essence to end disparities for polarity still envelops,
Like the devil's claw suppressing every gasp of humanity's breath.
The indistinct laughter, a dire warning, heralds an ominous threat,
No escape route or fence to climb, just a row of hangman's ropes.
Optimism's visions blindfolded, subjugated by menacing shadows,
Yet slivers of ethereal light penetrates impregnable walls of doom.
Opportunity transcends hardship driving back the insidious gloom,
It is within our grasp to ignite joy and douse the flame of sorrows!
Penned: 02/10/2023
2:41 p.m.
Las Vegas
Nevada
He rode the wind on mighty steed
He drove it fast to gain more speed
To win maiden in noble deed
As he galloped in the night…
He found his damsel in distress
With dragon claws clutching her dress
Disheveled hair and heart astress
As he galloped within sight…
One swift leap and he came aground
His rebel yell a mighty sound
Courage to fight in her he found
As he strode into her plight…
She gazed at eyes of azure blue
A depth of love she never knew
For handsome knight so brave and true
As she held on with her might…
He sunk he sword in to the hilt
Dragon heart blood to ground was spilt
Caught the damsel about to wilt
As his valor set things right…
In his strong arms she found her place
She gazed into his angel face
Between their bodies not a space
As the night was tinged with light…
He bowed his head to plant a kiss
A song of love, no dragon hiss
Her world now filled with utter bliss
As to heaven they took flight….
For Isaiah Zerbest Medaeval contest
August 3, 2013
Through open window floats orange sun,
blaze settling on my wrinkled brow.
Closed eyes spur visit from days done.
Dark thoughts escape to highest bough;
new freedom builds the here and now.
Past shadows meld into the clouds.
On highest bough I perch upon,
my teardrops fall with sorrow’s shroud.
As orange pulp bursts through misty dawn,
the burden of my shadows gone.
My spirit flies since freed from cage
with joyful love in morning light.
A songbird from the gilded age,
Sweet music lingers into night.
Praise drifts then clings to page of white.
With humble words, I thank the one
Who made this day and gave the sun.
Redemption
She slowly uncoiled her gray streaked hair that fell to her waist. She removed her
spectacles to see more clearly the windswept icy snow clinging to the branches. A
pause, settling something deep within; then her gaze shifted to me.
I reached out, but found my reach was frozen, too stiff to touch her. For if I touched
her, the burden we shared would lapse and slide away, slinking off to be buried,
uncoiled under the ground.
A pinched, dour expression settled her features into a mask that would never
betray the inner darkness which created a shadow of an existence. A mask that I
must wear as well, to ward off the hopeless life within me, growing every moment of
the day, days upon days retreating into the too long nights, hopeless to survive in
the world we have created, together as “want” and “ruthlessness”.
“I carry no idolatries, no false hope.” A breath are these words as I receive them,
knowing they are too bold to give forth a safe humility.
The nurse, starched clothing as stiff as her countenance, paused, a look of
condemnation briefly shadowing her face, the sun passing in and out of the clouds.
She could not help herself. No matter the role we are chosen to play in this world,
we are not free of a deeply flawed human nature, ice softening dangerously on a
winter’s pond. I turned away.
I came to hours later, the rejected life in me gone, a searing through flesh never
immune to a free will taunting, tearing the fabric of life so fragile. I would not cling. A
passing briefly witnessed, a single brown leaf blown by the window in the darkened
room where we sit for tea, hopes slowly elapsing like the sea waters
receding.
Tomorrow we can only envision; today we must let go of a part of us we will never
again possess. A coursing through the veins of life no more, we push, and push, an
existence wishing to sink into the yawning chasm of what is unknown and coming
for us.
Reflecting in my minds defining silence;
It's amazing how loud it can be without violence;
There are so many clever agents; sentient's within
Conducting their works; influencing original sin
Isolating thoughts with precise belligerence
Stifling consciousness; destroying all innocence
Un; and conscious thoughts confound
Is this a nightmare; so profound?
When this internalized backscattering redemption for my soul begins;
I'm more than just a little bit curious; about how to make a true amends;
These angelic thoughts; I feel the halo slipping down to this tightening noose;
The alarm clock tones; a dream lost; I come around, still deeply a recluse
It was the best of tines; it was the worst of tines.
It lay, distraught, in silence on the road.
He came around the curve, saw it too late to swerve;
the puncture caused his front tire to explode.
A silver-plated fork, her lineage was perhaps York;
a heritage of which she’d long lost track.
Her dreams as ballerina, faded like her patina;
now, pits and scars festooned her neck and back.
Her mind played back her fall, the horror of it all;
despairing life, she hoped it would end soon.
At first, upon a dare, burlesque with the flatware,
to end in shame, pimped by a plastic spoon.
Not wanting to be saved, she’d crawled out on the paved,
and waited for the crush when all went flat.
But in that car’s careening, her life took on new meaning;
an unexpected blowout saw to that.
For there, just up ahead, a kitten, surely dead,
was spared as the man slammed upon the brake.
Once stopped, he now could see her mewling pitifully;
he gently scooped her up to calm her shake.
Then, trying not to swear, he wrestled with the spare
and stowed the blown-out tire in the boot.
That’s when he saw her, mangled, her tines all at odd angles,
a fork that placed them all upon this route.
And so with certain care, he also placed her there
beside the kitten, on the padded seat.
Now straightened out and polished, she watches York demolish
the breakfast that her tines scooped out to eat.
—————
for the Metrical Tale Poetry Contest
sponsored by Hilo Poet
written on 01/03/2022