These Tangled Lines

Sometimes it’s discomfiting to look in the mirror, but it helps us see what needs to be rearranged.  This poem by https://robertlambertjones.wordpress.com is a commentary on the consequences of how we live our lives.  (And if you like mythology and monsters and superheroes, check out his site.)  Here’s my disclaimer.

These Tangled Lines

In common speech, we’re coming and we’re going,

So often unaware of what we’re showing,

Our choices have been etched upon our faces,

Expressions formed by sins and saving graces.

            But deep within these tangles lines

            There writes a higher hand

            In parables and hidden signs

            To help us understand.

That penitence and glory

Lead through once forbidden doors.

I’ve heard that life’s a story.

Tell me yours.

 

It’s often in disguise, but it’s compelling

To be a part of something that’s worth telling.

Can all the plans on which we are depending

Still justify the time that we’ve been spending?

            Now youth is past and spent on all

            The pleasures we demand,

            And pride has gone before a fall

            To help us understand

That penitence and glory

Lead through once forbidden doors.

I’ve heard that life’s a story.

Tell me yours.

 

Oh, we didn’t we even know

Words enough to say it though

It was always in the lessons life was teaching.

And it comes as some surprise

To the humble and the wise

That it goes beyond conclusions we were reaching.

 

What story in its telling makes us bolder

Or makes us young again for growing older?

Like children in simplicity believing

In promises made better by receiving?

            So by and by, we’ve come to find

            That all of this was planned,

            A history that comes to mind

            To help us understand

That penitence and glory

Lead through once forbidden doors.

I’ve heard that life’s a story.

Tell me yours.