Once I Could
Poem
Published on January 22, 2021
Once I Could
Poem
Once I could stir the cauldron of my breast
With a fatal concoction of vehement will
And a fistful of furies add to burning ill,
All from the pliant sky a rainbow to wrest.
Once I could stay the rampaging of storms,
Abrupt halt its ruinous march by a gesture,
The welter petered out a faint patter.
All to pluck the rose from its defending thorns.
Once I could wring the pitiful hearts of men,
Dwarf his savagery with a callous crown,
His fevers I would with a pestilence drown,
All for a silence from their prone bodies won.
But now am wracked by an ache, a poignancy,
How sweetly suffers Thy earth O Deliverer for Thee!
My heart has grown a crypt of sorrows endless,
Without Thee O Deliverer it stands lone and lampless.*
*Dally not O Deliverer on some minor consequence.