A Good Friday Poem
I am nothing. Worthless
Not even worth a thought
Or a tear, or a moment
But that’s all I’ve ever sought
Did I perhaps sense the gulf?
The heartbreak? The isolation?
That though without memory, my heart knew
Something dearly precious had broken?
Leaving a great sorrow, a stain of pain
A black so black it overwhelms the white
That can’t be removed, that can’t be fixed
That just can’t be set right
I can almost see it
That whiteness turned to black
Not only see it but feel it
What’s lost cannot be gotten back
For we’re nothing. Nothing.
A man’s life is but a breath
The wind blows and it passes
And then there is nothing left
So how can this be repaired?
Who would bother? Who would care?
Evil ones even laugh and chuckle
Then mock and hurt with their stares
But before my very eyes
I watch as the black fades away
With a drop of red, too vivid to bear
It turns as light as day
I look up and behold
A sight too terrible to see
My Lord bleeding to his death
To fix the brokenness in me
Drop by drop, pain by pain
What was broken is renewed
Remade, reformed, not just white but bright
Into something we never knew
And I hear a voice say from above
‘Come home! Come home to me!’
Then to my Lord it says alas!
‘For her wrongs I punish thee’
Drop by drop, pain by pain
The blood continues to flow
I fall to my knees, tears fill my eyes
Oh Sorrow. Sorrow!
For only his blood could return to white
That black blacker than night
For a mere breath, for a mere nothing
My Lord hangs there, crucified
His life ebbing away with every drop
Wretchedness in his every breath
Pain – It ought to be mine! – Pain!
Until the moment of his death
His last words are ‘It’s finished!”
And the Enemy laughs in glee
And I find that blackness gone entirely
At long last, I am free
But he is gone. He has paid
His life for a mere nothing, for mine
But it’s no longer worthless, not anymore
His blood now flows in mine
I was broken but now restored
Lost and alone but now found
Even so, the Enemy still declares
That it has won this time round
But a white whiter than white
And brighter than the brightest light
Has now descended into the darkness of hell
Does the Enemy think it’s right?
No, I’ll wait. I’ll wait
I’ll wait and wait some more
Hope is not lost. It’s just beginning
And I shall see the darkness fall
Copyright © 2024 by Kwek Yi Zhen