September 14th, 2008

It’s Mom and Dad’s anniversary today. They stayed the night in PG and shopped for a video camera. Which they found and bought. It’s pretty cool and they will be figuring it out for the next several years. It’s also Sunday and I wasn’t able to go to church because no one was home, I stayed up WAY too late and then slept until 10. Half of that was my own anxiety and the other half was my stupidity. I worked until 10 again tonight so I’m exhausted now but I want to keep this up so I’m making an attempt to finish and post this tonight.

Okay… Teeth. What a peculiar topic. Way back at the beginning of spring I was in a prayer meeting and I felt that I was supposed to speak up and say something. In fact I knew that I was supposed to speak up and what I was going to say was confirmed several times. But I didn’t speak up. I took notes instead. Later as I reread the notes, feeling disappointed in myself for not speaking up, I decided that I would write it out as a poem. I tried to write it but what I ended up writing had nothing to do with the night before.

The theme of the poem was teeth. In particular the sons of God enslaved by the enemy and suffering with broken teeth. Later as I reflected over what I had written I found myself reading Hebrews 5:12-14. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God and, you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. This is the poem, (sorry, it’s long…). It’s all very coincidental and I thought, since it came up again, I would share it with all of you.

Teeth.

God there is a cry
There is a wail
Lilting from the throat
Of the jealous beast
It lifts it coy head
And shrieks
To assault the ears of God.
It spits defiance in your face.
And it casts a saddle
Upon the backs of your people.
Prancing in arrogance
It rides them, drives them down.
Feeds upon their suffering,
As their teeth clench and clash
Against the metal of the bit,
Breaking, cracking,
Till they are no longer able to eat
No longer able to sit,
To dine at the banquet you prepare.
And though they crave
The meat of your table,
Your milk is all they can handle.
So they sit in despair
Looking upon the supper of the Lord.
Their bodies withering,
Their tongues crying for a taste.
These your people,
Once great warriors, dear brothers,
Are caught and bound.
God their cries are muted
They go unnoticed.
Amid the shrieks of the beast
They go unheard.
Attune your ear God
To hear the cries of your beloved.
As the pompous beast is casting eyes
Upon the power of heaven.
Jealously eyeing the livelihood,
The inheritance,
Of the sons of God.
As, in his cunning, he casts them low.
Crooning sweet lullabies
He slides the bit between their teeth
Singing sweet anthems in their ears
He digs in his heels
And climbs upon their backs.
Grotesque arrogance is in his grin,
As he ties them hand and foot
And kisses their anointed foreheads
In mockery of their God.
Do not let this travesty continue,
Oh Lord God, Sweet Almighty,
Rise up and call for chariots of fire,
Gird your loins with justice
And loose yourself upon the earth.
Come down in fury and in passion
Your heart pounding after your people.
May the earth resound,
And may your people be stirred
To rise and stand upright.
Casting the brute to the ground
May they dance upon him
Crushing him beneath their feet
As they join in worship
And celebrate the righteousness
Of the Lord God Almighty.
Restore the teeth of your people;
Teeth which were broken,
And ground by the bit of the enemy.
And lead them to your table.
Yes, lead them rejoicing
To eat at your banquet table.