Shatter the darkness,
Bring searing light.
Break all the bondage
With holy might.
Rend all the ramparts,
Strongholds of fear;
Bring understanding —
With wisdom draw near.
Strengthen our weakness,
Your courage now give.
Cleanse with Your Spirit
Our madness and sin.
Strike now our enemy,
Make him forlorn;
Let all his strongholds
Be tattered and torn.
Give us Your power;
Your spirit embue.
Without you, dear Jesus,
There’s naught we can do.
The enemy will tell you lies;
Don’t be surprised.
Says you’re no good —
You ought, you should
Give up and never try again.
He worms and wiggles,
He really squiggles
Into your mind —
He gets inside.
Will twist and turn,
Pervert and squirm,
Ooze into you,
But you must choose.
Rebuke the lie —
Yes, you must try.
Receive the grace
And win the race.
[I thought I should explain how this poem was inspired. I watched a documentary about the real story that the book “The Hunt for Red October” is based on. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh0N3iG-7Uc . In the true story, a Russian naval officer is disillusioned by the way Communism had played out in reality (although he was still a Communist). He tried to start a revolution to bring back Communism to it’s ideal (helping the common people). The documentary also portrayed the Cold War in an interesting way. I thought about all the hopes and dreams of people from very different backgrounds. Then my mind jumped to other differences, like Protestant and Catholic, “conservative” and “liberal”, etc., and I thought, “I wonder if we are all wrong about each other?” Not too say there are not good reasons for the differences and conflicts, only that each person in his heart has a dream that we need to listen to.]
I thought you were my enemy
But someone had told me lies about you,
And so it seems,
Someone had told you lies about me.
We went around in a fog of falsehood
That seemed so normal
Because the fog was constantly around us.
Then the light
Began to break through
For me, for you.
The mist still mystifies
But it’s getting thinner.
Slowly the sun’s light
Is burning through.
Are we just relating
To ideas of each other
Or who we really are?
If I could see
With eyes divine
I would not believe a lie.
Why do I suffer?
Why do I fall?
Is it a lack of something within?
Is it a deafness, blindness, sin?
Is it my fault,
A weakness large?
Is it an ignorant, stubborn heart?
Or perhaps all these,
Seized on to torment,
By an enemy fierce
Who confusion foments?
Your grace do I seek;
I am utterly weak.
My eyes cannot see;
My ears wrongly hear.
Help me to trust
In You — that I must.
clarakatalin 
On the Wrong Side
(Reflections on D-Day and other conflicts)
What happens when
You’re on the wrong side,
Through no fault of your own? —
You didn’t ask to be born.
What happens when
You’re one black among whites
Or one white among blacks?
What happens when
Your skin’s another color,
Your religion is different,
Or you’re the former enemy?
Peace has been declared,
But it takes take time
For hatred not to flare.
I’m on the wrong side sometimes,
But I have to live.
Please give me a chance.
Don’t judge me by labels
And prejudiced fables.
Though some may be true,
I’m a person too.
And I, too, must learn
To open my heart,
To make a new start.
To open my mind,
To learn to be kind,
Though we might disagree —
We need to be free.
To see you as special
Would really be helpful.
To see your great worth —
It really can’t hurt.
To learn to forgive,
That’s how we must live.
(June 6, 2014 – 70th anniversary of D-Day, World War II)
Category:
Commentary, Poems
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