Weep, oh my soul,
with tears painful and public:
when life abandons ardor for order;
when the demand for sober security
upstages the generative prospect of passion;
when the birthright of fertile charism
is bartered for a ration of bridled expedience.
The blessed struggle—¡Buena lucha!—is upon us.
The City of Promise
is bathed in the tears of the Beloved
—would that you knew,
would that you knew—
who cries not in indignation or threat
but in persevering confidence
that this season of coercion
will be exhausted from its taunting
of the One who knows no revenge.
For this donkey-mounted Messiah
rejects all messianic folly
with announcement of an Empire
subverting all imperial ambition.
©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org. 2006 Holy Week meditation on Luke 19:41:
“And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying
Would that you knew the things that make for peace.’”
In memory of William Sloan Coffin (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006)