I have heard the Songbird

Tonight as I lay in my bed for hours, awake with an awful migraine like so many other nights, the Lord prompted my heart to get up and write. I crawled out of bed, found my sweet bible and my journal, read Zephaniah about the Lord quieting Jerusalem with His love and rejoicing over her with singing, and I wrote. This is not the style of poetry that I usually write in and this poem in particular is very vulnerable, but what’s the point of writing if vulnerability and honesty are lacking?

I have known the distance and hindrances of fear

I’ve danced in muddy waters and believed that they were clear
I’ve traveled through the valleys of death and endless grief

I’ve wandered on the mountains where sorrows never cease

I’ve made friends with isolation and shaken hands with lies
I’ve known the separation of broken earth and holy sky
I’ve wallowed in self-pity and been blinded by my pain
And I have heard the Songbird sing my broken name

I have known the comfort and the peace of heaven’s voice
In quietness and stillness and with gladness i’ve rejoiced
I’ve run on highest places and bounded on loves hills
I’ve witnessed sacred violence when the accuser’s come to steal

I’ve clung to hope and promise and have known a lovesick gaze
I’ve been carried through deep darkness and been lifted when i’ve swayed

I’ve seen chains release my ankles and have bid farewell to shame

And I have heard the Songbird sing my broken name

Songbird, O Songbird, You’ve sung Your healing rhyme

Over and over, time after time

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