Reproof Poems | Examples

My Inner Voice Told Me

Johari window;
no one can see through this pane,
where I make my decisions.
my thoughts ala carte,
and not all desirable,
sussed out in my universe;
perplexing to me.
sift through so many pages -
childhood habits and missteps.
when faith came my way,
how divine the candlelight,
the Spirit lighting my path.
electrifying,
sword of positivity 
discerning my every word.
don’t always listen
to the reproof; button up.
shame’s not a place to live. look
up to God’s grace; bow
down in that out of sight place;
forward march into glory.
sometimes there are storms:
depression, obsessive fraughts.
I pray through it; God’s faithful.
lingering in brain,
too long, could drive me cuckoo;
get in, get out, get moving.
inner voice, I must control.

Embodying the Light

Line of inquiry: 

truth imbibed
awaits assimilation
we feel it in our bones
in time dissolved meditation


Man's Advocate, Christ, returned to heaven's gates
yet, earth's need for Light remained paramount.
God had planned remedy which illuminates
man's body and soul from within like a fount.

Thus dwells seeds of truth in all those who embrace
God's Spirit, causing man's spirit to be stirred.
Light makes Himself known and His raw truth we taste,
digested daily from the truth in God's Word.

With prayer, conscience matures and converys
nourishment for a new diet of service.
Reproof brings discipline when our spirit strays
feasting with him who vainly tries to swerve us.

Wisdom absorbed into its mind, soul and frame,
our being can bring glory to our Maker;
with thoughts, words, deeds that proclaim His holy name -
three-fold - Creator, Savior and Caretaker.

For its worth in forgiveness and redemption,
our faith is sustained to the endpoint of sight
when we join our Christ at the doors of heaven
hearing, "Well done, you've broadcasted My Light."

THE CROSSROADS OF WISDOM

Beneath the heavens, split and torn,
A path of choice where lives are worn.
One road glows with light and grace,
The other fades to a shadowed place.

The wise one stands with arms outstretched,
A voice of truth, in kindness etched.
"Choose the way of fear divine,
Reject the folly that dims your shine."

Yet many scorn the gentle call,
To tread the path where shadows fall.
They spurn reproof, their hearts turned cold,
Seeking counsel from the blind and bold.

The wayward steps, so bold and free,
Lead to chains they cannot see.
And fools who rest in empty cheer,
Will find destruction drawing near.

But those who bow to wisdom's hand,
Will walk the way to a promised land.
A life of peace, both pure and true,
Awaits the hearts that wisdom woo.

So pause, dear soul, at the crossroads bare,
And heed the call of wisdom's care.
For every choice will bear its weight,
And guide you to your destined fate.

The Old Man and The Sea

Faulkner's letter to
Hemingway discovered God
in time ~ ere souls wrote
formed their clays ~ victories and
defeats ~ fought they their reproof
now loves and pities
proud catch lost at sea old man
lands the best that seldom's me

Baptism

Here I sit at the table of The Lord
  with emblems to the elect grafted in -
my old faith in God and mercy restored
  by the love in he who died without sin.
I sojourner, in the walk to the truth
  cleansed by the holy waters of baptism -
to beseech, if not by your own reproof,
  to rise again like Your son has risen.
For soon you saints in Christ the hour will come -
  all who tarry in His tabernacle,
and behold the King of all Christendom
  in he who no grave could hold nor shackle.
The Word made flesh who in last dying breath
had lots cast and died a criminal’s death.


         Written: October 2010

Deeper Roots

You can burn a book
but not its truth
Flames no match
for time’s reproof

Planted deep
below the lime
Its seeds will flower
— where light to shine

(West Campus: May 6, 2024)

Knock

"I did not expect death to knock on my door.  
Now I keep it securely locked."           ~ by poet


I bade the knocker at my door, "Please come in."
The visitor to my home, whoever it might've been
But frigid air left a chilly atmosphere in the room
The hand of fate entered; I heard the voice of doom

I sensed my end was near as it swiftly approached
Across my dwelling's threshold, death encroached
Its icy breath etched frost upon my window panes
Blood seemed to stop flowing within my frail veins

Death's wildling wind pelted its anger on my roof
My fear of it climbed higher as I cowered in reproof
Huddled in a corner, horror mounted and spurred
This room was the chamber where I'd be interred

How foolhardy of me to leave my door unlocked
I shouldn't have bid welcome when death knocked
Every gliding step its darkness took in my direction
subdued my will until I could not raise an objection

Terror compelled me to curse what my fate now bore
I should've run when hearing the knock on my door
Demonic eyes searched mine with a look of disdain
Out the door it flew, but my fright will long remain

The Rod and Reproof Gives Wisdom

Such a violent world we live in
Hard to know just what to do
For example both my mom and dad
Have slapped and spanked me too
But nowadays some choose a path
That may seem rather odd
To discipline with words instead
Of reaching for a rod

"The rod and reproof give wisdom ..."
What does the Bible mean?
In carrying out that principle
Some have gone to the extreme
The rod of discipline should be
To train towards peace and love
True discipline's tree yields peaceful fruit
The Wisdom from above

The rod of discipline is like
The rod of a caring shepherd
Who wields his rod in a loving way
For the sheep by him are treasured
The best example is God Himself
Before whom we sin each day
Does he beat us with a rod of pain?
No, His Word shows us the way

It's true at times He scourges
Some of those that He holds dear
Even then 'tis done in a loving way
Leaving naught for us to fear
Yes, nowadays some choose a path
That may seem rather odd
To discipline with words instead,
Like the discipline from God

Humility

When facing the fire,
Save your face with humbleness
Admonished reproof.

Persuasion Comes Not Easily

A dressing-down's full of hauteur 
    Persuasion comes not easily
  
  Instead of rebuke, employ kinder reproof
    a velvet hammer, wield congenially

Wish To Fly

Looking at birds in the sky,
like them too, I wished to fly
and so it was, that one day,
blessings divine paved my way.

At home, whilst I was alone,
throbbed my pineal gland cone
and standing at heaven’s gate,
I began to levitate!

Bliss magnetism suffused form
and blown away in this storm,
my formless self, one with space,
was left with no goals to chase.

On return to body-mind,
flight of fancy, mind declined,
since I had brought back no proof,
truth crumbled under reproof.

29-May-2023
__________

W T F Poetry Contest
Sponsor: John Lawless

The Corrective Love of God - Proverbs 3: 11,12

Often we know what we want
but then again God knows better
His ways to us don't figure out
but we should learn from His letter

When God chastens us in His love
it's for our good He brings correction
learn to trust in the Lord your God
for you were always His selection

This is the story of God's love
never forget no matter His plans
God always, always wants the best
for you are tight in God's clan

God is your heavenly father
who does everything in love
always having that in His view
to have a relationship like a glove

God's children are His own possession
for the Lord counts them as His delight
nothing can take away the love of God
it lifts you up into your heavenly flight

(My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
    or be weary of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
    as a father the son in whom he delights.)
Proverbs 3: 11,12 (ESV)

The Rose

He saw the rose
And all around the rose an aura glowed
Enveloping the rose, as if
It was the rose itself 
That glowed

And when the breezes blew
The rose, and aura, moved
As one – with grace and ease
And beauty, such as that he thought he’d never see

There was no love within his heart
That day, nor none he held apart,
Nor beauty much to be desired
To set his raging soul afire

Yet something there about the glow 
Which held him, lo – 
The splendid aura of the rose
Arrested all his thought
And made him doubt
All that he thought, and thought about – 

And then he started to,
As one who long ago had died 
Sudden springing back to life, alive!

For what he saw without reproof
Was nothing but the true unyielding truth –
‘Twas not the aura set apart
Enveloping the rose with outer glow,
But an inner flame within the rose
That burned – that burned! – 
Out of which both rose and aura glowed –

Shared Charms

He wears, with me, the charms of love, 
exchanging gentle whispers in storms 
of fascinated, trembling union.

He shares with me blue velvet nights
of careful and unmeasurable bliss,
and titivates modest morning rebirths.

He cares for me, reproof us not, we make 
no show of virtue, or counterfeit innocency,
but partage, in comfort, this open honesty.
.
.
titivate: make more attractive, improve
innocency = a show of innocence
partage = share

One More My Friend

                     I
One more my friend, one more
  ice cold beer golden filled,
till I alone face my mortal end
  and by its treachery killed.
Where haunts a ghost of mine
  whom I once much owed...
one more my friend, one more,
  just one more for the road
                    II
One more my friend, one more
  boding self-evident truth,
but fear not a day of reckoning
  nor an everlasting reproof.
Behold the virgin and the whore,
  alas both have sins to bear…
one more my friend, one more
  fork in a road to nowhere
                    III
One more my friend, one more
  lost courage for me to find,
to forgive a troubled weary soul 
  and rest with peace of mind.
Let church bells ring for brides
  and infants in holy baptism...
one more my friend, one more
  old demon for my exorcism
                    IV
One more my friend, drink up
  and seek a blessing now,
seek a true salvation and pray
  that you find it somehow.
And if I pass before my time
  among the grateful dead…
drink up old friend, drink up
  and live long in my stead!


  Written: December 1996

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