Best Reviled Poems
His day had come, and so He went and prayed.
The woes of all mankind upon him weighed.
His brethren slept; He knew what would befall.
His enemies conspired and did not stall.
A midnight kiss, and He would stand betrayed.
First seized, reviled, then stripped and flayed;
A scarlet robe on broken flesh then laid,
He bore the brutal cross and drank the gall.
His day had come.
A final breath. . . . the sacrifice was made.
The land then quaked. God’s sorrow was displayed.
The Son in linen. . . . on the earth a pall.
But in the sepulcher, His final call –
To conquer death! Man need not be afraid.
His day had come!
Submitted 3/12/23
for the Easter Poetry Contest of Regina McIntosh
They whipped Him
And stripped Him
They tried Him
Crucified Him
They nailed Him
Strength failed Him
They mocked Him
Hurt rocked Him
God forsook Him
Pain shook Him
They hit Him
Spit on Him
They pierced Him
Coerced Him
They hung Him
Thorns stung Him
They slapped Him
Snapped at Him
They riled Him
Reviled Him
Yet He remained dumb
None He did condemn
I was one of them
Saviour Lord Jesus
From sin, He frees us
With love, He sees us
I was not worthy
But, He’s trustworthy
And hence praiseworthy
I’ll praise Him
Gaze at Him
Worship Him
Tight grip Him
Adore Him
Implore Him
Exalt Him
Consult Him
Glorify Him
Satisfy Him
I’ll thank Him
Bank on Him
I’ll love Him
And prove Him
I’ll bless Him
Profess Him
I’ll trust Him
Discuss Him
Cling to Him
Sing of Him.
08.02.2021
In His eyes was the wisdom of the ages.
In His hands was kindness and love.
His manner was tender and quiet.
In His smile was a light from above.
He traveled the highways and byways;
Spoke to rich man and beggar alike.
He taught in the streets and the temples,
Brought comfort and healing and light.
He spoke of His reason for coming,
And a home for the faithful and true.
At first He was loved by many,
And then by only a few.
He was taken to court in the city,
And put through a mockery trial.
He was hung on the cross without pity,
And taunted and rudely reviled.
Why did they do this to Jesus,
A Man who would never abuse?
His countrymen laughed and they mocked Him.
"He said He was King of the Jews".
"CHRIST DIDN'T PLEASE HIMSELF. AS THE PSALMIST SAID, HE CAME FOR THE VERY PURPOSE OF SUFFERING UNDER THE INSULTS OF THOSE WHOWERE AGAINST THE LORD. THESE THINGS WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPTURES SO LONG AGO ARE TO TEACH US PATIENCE, AND TO ENCOURAGE US SO THAT WE WILL LOOK FORWARD EXPECTANTLY TO THE TIME WHEN GOD WILL CONQUER SIN AND DEATH."
Romans 15:3-4
(Want to see a hero? A real Man's Man? Well, there He is.)
I really have outdone myself this time!
My ‘God Machine’ is finally in place!
I’ll never have to fret about a rhyme,
Or stop for a red light that changed from green
As if it sought to put me in my place
A random hiccup clearly quite obscene.
I really am quite clever I must say
My ‘subtle knife’ (1) allowing me to splice
My ‘God Machine’ into time’s tawdry day
The true God left completely unaware
That He is now controlled by my device
And just another victim of malware.
It seems there’s quite a lot that ‘God’ screwed up
That I intend to change now I’m in charge
I think that its bad form to cover-up!
So what’s the deal with dying anyway?
Let no one die will be my countercharge
And life is just a breeze on my freeway!
All pain mere nuisance, manna heaven sent
And sin gives you enormous facial zits
While love and kindness clear up all your rent.
Though talents differ, jealousies dissolve
As differences bring none real benefits
And non-destructive social moves evolve.
All birth defects, parental wealth passé
Genetic weakness gone with dodo bird
No accident of birth gives worth per se
Sins of the parent cannot taint the child
That God might favor one is just absurd
The color of one’s skin no more reviled.
But now I find my plans have gone awry
My God Machine decided I’m a flaw
It seems that I’m outdated samurai
Humanity endangering MY plan
Just plankton in the future’s yawning maw
Machine judged only advocate for man! (2)
Brian Johnston
November 5, 2014
Poet's Notes:
(1) subtle knife - A reference to a magical knife that can open windows in time in one of the 3 books in the Phillip Pullman trilogy 'His Dark Materials' including The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass.
(2) My poetic version of the lesson of the book and movie 2001 (written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke) where HAL, a computer so smart that it becomes sentient, decides that that only way to really protect a manned mission of a spaceship to the planet Jupiter is to kill all the humans on board the spaceship. The crew's humanity HAL decides is just too big a risk to the mission that HAL is charged (by its human programmers) to protect.
you course in my veins with prurience, wild
immersing my marrow in urge, recompiled
teceptors abducted the instant you smiled
love's effigy flaming, my sinews defiled
all virtue forsaken, as tears from a child
fidelity's prospects are henceforth reviled
I inject you, narcotic - my opiate, pure
a caustic and carnal contingency's cure
delectably dressed with diabolic allure
such dermal sublimity, surface demure
I taste of your shapes, corporeal contour
skin softly savored, goosebumped and bare
your tang on my tongue, the nectar I share
our sugar rush potion for ravishment, rare
mixed in a kiss with the strands of your hair
your ecstatic delirium inculcates my core
I'm lost to a lust that's not lasted before
tinged with an aching that day would abhor
velvet and warm are the walls of your fire
addicted to you with a crave to be higher
you are my medicine, the tonic I chug
I am infected, lubricious and riled
lavished in sensual senses so sure
imbibing the essence of you without care
mixed in like poison, I stir you and pour
swallow in gulps, the consequence, dire
you are my opiate ... you are my drug.
addicted to you.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Strand Choice M, Any Form, Any Theme" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Judge & Sponsor.
( This is a new form I created named "Minuanetta", with a rhyme scheme of aaaaaa, bbbbb, cccc, ddd, ee, f, abcdef g (title) ).
A cruel Jack Frost blows icy floss
(in front of spring a’ burstin’)
while shiftin’ sheaves of withered leaves
near freezin’ streams a’ thirstin’.
A pack reviled runs roamin’ wild,
the alpha wolf wakes howlin’
then scents a lean and lonesome scene
while on the lurk a’ prowlin’.
A cloud revolts with spangled bolts,
and starry skies start closin’
as wild geese soar beyond death’s door
neath naked moon a’ posin’.
Electric shafts, like fractured rafts,
sail night’s cathedral caldrons –
their cracking curse makes herds disperse
in random splayed and sprawled runs.
A she-wolf sighs with hungry eyes;
the ancient wolf waits, bayin’ -
with weary back, he’s lost the track,
his bandied legs betrayin’.
The brood’s somewhere in shrouded lair
with mama left to mind ’em -
the wolf, a’ drag with empty swag,
is on his way to find ’em.
The pack rejoins with weary loins -
perhaps its days are numbered.
In evening’s night, he’s feeling tight,
with aches and pains encumbered.
As morning nears, with shaggy ears
(one droopin’ down, hung over)
he’ll set the course with renewed force,
for, yes, he’s still the rover.
When snow enshrines the timberlines
and skies are ripped asunder
though young, lupine, they’ll stifle whines,
as gullies fill with thunder;
mid echoes in the mouth o’ death,
they bid farewell the lair
while panting puffs o’ crystal breath
float, hanging in the air.
Their path is black (they can’t look back
for herds long gone a’ missin’)
as dusk profanes the snow-bound plains
the sinkin’ sun was kissin’.
Neath northern lights, with barks and bites,
he keeps ’em all in motion –
the speckled scars of fallin’ stars
display the night’s devotion.
The sky’s a’ blushin’ in the east,
and hollow wind’s are sighin’
while buzzards freeze in gallows trees,
a’ roostin’, rapt and eyein’.
These ghouls of prey, they’re spooked away,
like tumbleweeds a’ blowin’,
by tilted head, white fangs tipped red,
and warnin’ wail’s a’ growin’.
...... Continued in part 2 ......
Lincoln never imagined
today’s white victim zeitgeist,
pouting persecuted supremacists,
their clenched jaws and fists.
Civil war rages in limbic memory.
Encoded somewhere,
the panic attacks and mirages.
Nobody is qualified because everybody is responsible.
So many whites have graduated from the struggle,
showcasing their diploma from the mill.
Lincoln never imagined
modern virtual vitriol,
merciless memes lashing out at specters,
infusing, inciting depravity among the sleep deprived.
These words are battleships aimed at the reviled.
The unshielded summon civility.
They beckon familiar principles.
But rabid cougars wait in hiding, eager to pounce.
All the feeble markets for platitudes have failed,
as subliminal cavities endure each generation.
Mental lynch mobs, rebel flags, supremacy’s utopia.
Lincoln never imagined
a 21st century cartoon president,
a white nationalist clicking social network epithets,
a whining overgrown tormenter
with a cult of Stalinist believers.
Where are the intelligible?
How is all this animated fury converted?
What is the lesson plan?
Who will bury the code?
How long this agonizing journey into normality?
Lincoln never imagined.
Published Tuck Magazine 04/ 2019
Born into this world as a humble, helpless Babe
Christ increased in wisdom and stature
Grew up in favour with both God and man
Baptised publicly by John the Baptist
Tempted by the devil, but overcame him
Preached the gospel of the kingdom of God
Befriended the publicans and the sinners
Turned the water into wine, did miracles
Cast out demons, healed all kinds of diseases
Backed up twelve fishermen as His disciples
Taught them, led them, and washed their feet
Spent three and a half years moulding them
Broken, He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane
His sweat as blood, such spiritual agony
Ready to do the will of God and drink the cup
Beaten and scourged on the way to Calvary
A crown of thorns placed upon His head
Spat upon, mocked, and smote by the soldiers
Bruised, He was crucified on the cruel Cross
He hung there with no form nor comeliness
Reviled by passers-by wagging their heads
Bereft and forsaken by His own Father
Carrying the sins of the entire world
He suffered and bled, but forgave and loved
Beseeching His Heavenly Father to receive His Spirit
Lord Jesus Christ gave up his ghost on the Cross
And the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom
Buried in a new rock sepulchre, the stone was rolled
The tomb was sealed and the watch was set
But on the third day, as prophesied, our Lord rose up
Behold, there was a great earthquake
The angel of the Lord descended from heaven
And rolled back the stone and sat upon it
Bewildered, the women heard him saying,
“Fear not, ye seek Jesus who was crucified,
He is not here, for He is risen, come see where they laid Him”
Brutal death could not chain our Lord,
He overcame it and appeared to His disciples
And was carried up into heaven
Believe on the Lord Jesus, He was crucified for our sins,
But He resurrected from the dead, never to die again
Now He sits on the right hand of God, interceding for our sins
Beloved, He will come back one day
Not as the Lamb, but as the Lion
To take His loved ones unto Himself
Before it is too late, accept Him into your heart
You will enjoy peace, love and joy, which this world can’t offer
Repent, believe and rejoice for the Lord Jesus Christ is alive.
9th April, 2022
For Regina McIntosh's "Easter" contest
There are two laws that precede any others:
Love first thy God, and then love thy brothers.
But when we see another engaged in some wrong,
do we offer forgiveness or join with the throng
casting their stones, as their hatred they spew
claiming God’s judgment to back what they do.
“It says in the bible, don’t do this, don’t do that…”
Does anyone wonder why the message falls flat?
We go to our churches, and sing songs of praise
but then when we leave we embrace sinful ways.
We claim to know Jesus, we’ve felt of his love
but rather than spread that, we push and we shove.
Yet forcing our morals on others is flawed
do we really think that will bring them to God?
We seem to forget, life is meant to be hard,
that all of us struggle, and in that regard
we are no better than any known sinner,
if we must cleanse a vessel, can we make it the inner?
When others are doing some act we despise,
trust God with the judgment and silence the cries.
Let’s open our hearts, look again at God’s child
struggling through life, and by others reviled.
Let us offer a haven, our friendship, and care
let us strengthen the weary, give hope to despair.
For loving thy brother, comes not with condition
and failing to do so is guilt by omission.
For there are two laws that precede any others:
Love first thy God, and then love thy brothers.
08/16/15
His day had come, and so He went and prayed.
The woes of all mankind upon him weighed.
His brethren slept; He knew what would befall.
His enemies conspired and did not stall.
A midnight kiss, and He would stand betrayed.
First seized, reviled, then stripped and flayed;
A scarlet robe on broken flesh then laid,
He bore the brutal cross and drank the gall.
His day had come.
A final breath. . . . the sacrifice was made.
The land then quaked. God’s sorrow was displayed.
The Son in linen. . . . on the earth a pall.
But in the sepulcher, His final call –
To conquer death! Man need not be afraid.
His day had come!
My prayers I offer, Lord
They are like incenses brimming heavenly casks
Might is in your words
Aided, I rivers ford
Gratify us children as we ask
A long diseased child
A mother's arms released me at your hands
Garments long defiled
That mortal men reviled
Your arms enclosed, a beautious garland
An undeserved prize
My tattered garments smother in light
Uncompensated cries
That world did but despised
You did not deem so little in your sight
For yours I am by right.
(Sir Frederick Treves, Victorian surgeon, has the
following claims to our respect: (1) he discovered
and cared for Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man":
(2) He followed the route in Italy of the characters
in Browning's "The Ring & the Book", taking
priceless photos: and many more things!)
The Eloquent Man
Sir Frederick Treves enjoys four claims to fame:
the lifelong friend of Thomas Hardy, who
supped with him in the King’s Arms snug: the name
of Joseph Merrick (Robert Browning, too!)
is intimately linked with his: he’s due
a place in heaven for his healing feats:
and yes, he lived here, on the street of streets.
It’s Dorchester, or Casterbridge to some.
And Treves, a native, knew its ways and whims
as well as Hardy did. When he succumbed
to his appendix, genteel pseudonyms
were dropped. Tom Hardy chose the funeral hymns.
He also honored Treves in gentle rhymes,
to mark his passing, in the London Times.
The wretch named Merrick, or the Elephant Man,
could well have lived his loveless life untended,
had Treves not found him. Merrick’s mortal span
was made more bearable, being befriended
by one of London’s foremost. When it ended,
poor Joseph Merrick, long reviled and scorned,
found home in Wimpole Street, where he was mourned.
King Edward feels a grumble in his tripes,
and sends for Surgeon Treves, the kingdom’s best.
“You mustn’t operate,” the sovereign gripes,
“My coronation’s looming.” “Which seems best,”
asks Treves – “a crowning, or cremation?” Pressed
to give an answer, Edward takes the knife –
and Treves the genius saves his monarch’s life.
The poet Browning wrote some novel verse,
or rather, a verse novel: ring and book,
Italian murder tale. Treves was immersed
in it, obsessed with it, completely hooked:
went off to Tuscany, made notes, and took
some photographs, made sketches, thus preserving
the base of fact. The man defines “deserving”!
“I’m Tim and I’m an addict, and I last drunk a week ago.”
The circle replied ‘hi Tim’, all their eyes fixed to my shuddering body
All unaware of the eccentric movement of my quivering lips, all not wanting to be.
The chair was shaking and the room was hot, I was waiting for that time when;
I’ll be out of this circle of people of my own vice, and I’ll see my doctor.
I’m waiting for that moment ill bid her good bye and program another session.
And then I’ll go for a run across the bridge down the river,
I’ll sit by the river side and mine my gin bottle take a sip and pray;
Pray hard that the booze runs out; pray hard that id grow allergic to it,
Pray more for the sip to be the last. Just like I’ve always done a year down the road.
I reviled what I had become she hated how fast I had changed;
She detested everything that I was being to the little one.
From a span she would sniff my, breathe and shield our little one from my hug.
Frustration would lead me to the basement where I would drink until I pass out.
Another gone by and in another circle I sit;
Their eyes affixed on me with attentive intent of welcoming my testimony
‘Hi, I’m Tim; I’m an addict and I drunk last a week ago.’
The circle answered ‘Hi Tim’...
‘I’m trying to quit’ I added.
entry for Old Christmas Poem Contest by Constance LaFrance
"Christmas treasure? A baby's worth is so complex
God can use all those things we'd mark off with an " X ". by Poet
Twas the night before Christmas, the manger's convinced,
it stands ready to cradle a Savior and Prince.
The no vacancy sign caused men's wonder and doubt,
manger's role is a pivot. God's working it out!
As we gawk, looking on well-known scene from the past
deeming inn-keeper's choice of a manger - miscast.
Though the stable was clean, men have questioned, reviled
why this ignoble place to birth God's only Child?
Host of animals set, angels' message is heard
in the Bethlehem fields causing sheep no small stir.
"Give all glory to God, there's no reason to fear,"
Lamb of God has come down; 'tis the season to cheer.
Time elapsed since the manger, a star claims the scene
in fair Bethlehem town, we find kings have convened.
The star signaled their hope in the easternmost skies
God cut short anxious Herod's deceitful disguise.
Those three gifts that kings brought were the promise and fee
this young family needed when God said to flee.
Christmas treasure? A baby's worth is so complex
God can use all those things we'd mark off with an " X ".
December 17, 2021
Under The Cover.
.
You can never ever
Tell a book by it’s cover
As I was later to discover
The Lady in the Nursing home
The old man across the way
All have a story to tell
Hidden away
.
Some people I’ve known for years
Have suddenly touched my heart
And left me in tears
When they reviled their past
And nightmares and fears
.
Like my own dear Father
Shot and wounded
A prisoner of war
With only a tiny piece of bread to eat
And nothing more
.
The sweet old Lady I talked to
In Worksop in a store
Who told me she was the last surviving victim
Of Dachau in the war
.
The old man down our street
A nicer man you could ever meet
A rear Lancaster tail gunner
Or the hardship of a devoted Mother
Her husband left her for another
Someone who lost their family
And had no other
.
Those who suffered in the blitz
Those who lost a loved one
Aboard a ship
Never found always missed
The nurse who gave her all and put others
Before herself
To help the sick
.
The Pals sent to die in another far off land
The luckier who returned
Minus a leg or no hand
The coal miner unground
Who kept the home fires burning
The Steelworkers who gave their all
To keep England’s wheel turning
.
The bomb disposal and mine clearer's
The lifeguard on the bay
The emergency services and law enforcers
Who put their life in danger for us every day
.
The one who gives
But doesn’t seek recognition or reward
The one who fights for justice and war to cease
And silently prays for peace
.
A million stories left untold
Of unsung heroes young and old
No one should judge anyone
Like a book by their cover
For we all have a story
And who knows what we might discover.
.
Peter Dome©2020.