(I wrote this a month ago at a moment when I was overwhelmed by the emotional weight that students walk around with each day.)
Backpacks
and locker keys,
Pelts
from last night’s thrashing,
Young
love and heartache,
Betrayal’s
knife that leaves a mark, a friendship scarred,
And
a relationship broken.
Unfinished
essays and tattered textbooks,
Letters
never sent, stored within,
Miscommunication
left hanging, will it ever clear?
Missed
expectations with no clue how to make it right,
Severed
heartstrings with no idea how to retie them.
Jokes
in back pocket and sarcasm saved up,
Reaction
after reaction after reaction
Poured
out after days, months, years of disapproval
Received
in lashes, phrases, silence, distance.
The
things they carry,
I
feel them, too.
The
things they hold onto,
I
feel them, too.
The
tension that drenches the air
Like
a player’s sweat after suicide drills ordered by Coach.
The
hopeless that sways the steady marcher to and fro
Without
real clarity on how to regain what has been lost.
Years
of memories who can erase,
Hours
of tears that no one could face,
“How
can you change it?” They may ask;
“How
do you expect it to be any different?”
She
screams.
I
will hold the hand that trembles,
But
I cannot hold the heart that aches,
Hope
will be restored,
These
are the days of restitution,
Pain
will fall like scales from a dead dragon,
The
war has been fought,
You
were bought with a price,
These
are the moments of reconciliation.
There
has not been a ceasefire, but One has stood in the way,
The
bullets of your shame, your tainted name,
Have
been renewed, claimed, traded-in:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a
planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the
Lord,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in
your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the Lord, love justice;
I
hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the
nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”
10 I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of
salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a
priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations."
--Isaiah
61
