Meditations #6

6.

When agony runs ocean-deep
and all the joy has fled;

when what you loved is now no more
and sorrow knows no end;

when throat is parched with too much pleading,
eyes are wet with too much weeping,
stomach clenched and heart is bleeding,
watching, waiting–still, no seeing…

when all you’ve known has disappeared
and all around are nameless fears;

when life descends unto the dead,
the endless night, the void, the dread;

when everything turns desolation,
land burned-out, annihilation
soul drowns in humiliation,
from your guilt no exculpation…

Then, beloved, then.

Then you’ve drunk the bitter cup,
nowhere for you to go but up;

for One has gone there, made it his,
into the void and now it is

a verdant garden, full of life
overwhelming all our strife;
the light has entered darkest night,
the depth has now become the height;

the land burned-out, annihilation
now becomes a new creation;

all that’s lost has now been found,
your broken heart becomes the ground

where song erupts from scorchéd earth
the agony has given birth

to hymns of praise and joyful song
he’s mended every single wrong
you’ll see it soon, it won’t be long…

…just wait, my love–he’ll make you strong.