WHAT COMES BEFORE A FALL,MY BROTHERS?

VIPERS AND TOADS

13 January 98

Where earth and water fought in song, and air and water joined,
We shared what you had brought along, what Jack and Luke had penned.
Two weapons were “enough”, one said, and we were pledged to follow:
Your path led through the rough -- you led. My battle-cry was hollow.

I should have turned and gone away, let old acquaintance near,
Instead I gnawed a bone of mine, let love give way to fear.
Fear drives out love where old events long past their time survive,
But “Love!” is all we’re told, and only “Love!”, if we would live.

To live, we must be called by name, take up our cross and thorn,
Break free where we’re enthralled, outgrow the place where we were born.
So others, too, must find alone their own path leading in,
To which our eyes are blind; alas, that blindness is our sin.

We must judge and confess the sins we seek, but may not sow
Our own sin and distress abroad to work another’s woe.
O Lamb of God, forgive again; we know not what we do.
Teach us to love, and so to live, and loving, live in you.