The Human Badge

It was as if God’s fountain pen busted
Because all its black ink suddenly stained
 
The evening sky. The front was blowing in.
In those same moments hidden from view
 
A trumpet blew proud and mournful notes
Wild with dream. A band student practicing.
 
And I thought of you and your holy week,
Your inevitable collision with the very mind of death.
 
You had to, didn’t you? In order to successfully
Earn the human badge you had to die. To have
 
Refused the cup would have secured anonymity.
The cross made you finally a real man.
 
As wind and trumpet blew I also saw Your flaw.
All humans have one. Yours was you loved too much.
 
 
 

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14 Comments

  1. Rhonda Wray on April 1, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    I am a new subscriber. Thank you, John, for the gift that is this poem. Your merging of the everyday with the sacred touches me deeply. OK, Good Friday, I am ready for you.

  2. pastordt on April 1, 2015 at 3:10 pm

    Such a flaw as this. Ah, yes.

  3. Hallie on April 1, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    John, this poem stops me…such a gift the day before Maundy Thursday. I also was so moved by the poem you wrote memorializing Kara Tippetts. My family is so grateful for your poetry!

  4. Karissa Knox Sorrell on April 1, 2015 at 4:21 pm

    This is so, so beautiful. I subscribe to your posts and love reading your words. I don’t comment much though. But this poem gave me pause. Oh, the ending takes my breath away. For a Christian who hasn’t felt very Christian-y or faithful lately, this will help me approach Easter.

    • thebeautifuldue on April 6, 2015 at 11:32 am

      Hi, Karissa. I haven’t felt very Christiany lately either, its good to know I’m not alone – thank you.

  5. dukeslee on April 1, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    Felix culpa.

    O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer.

    Hushed by the beauty of this, John Blase.

  6. wynnegraceappears on April 1, 2015 at 5:00 pm

    The power of His love, the mystery of Divinity as man, the telling of the unfathomable grace. How do we breathe in the fragility of it all. Thank you for wrapping it in poetry, John.

  7. Sallie on April 2, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    I saw that sky last night– it caught me off guard in a way where I couldn’t simply say “Yep, that’s a spring sky.” I let it sit in a center place because I had no category. God’s like that.

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