Southern Greek Chorus
I wrote this poem awhile back, even posted it here. But I’m bringing it back out today because I’ve heard so very much lately about identity, and I believe it originates from more than we sometimes hope it does.
Jess claims she’s finally found her identity completely in Christ which sounds oh so spiritual but in reality is just true enough to keep her in trouble, at least that’s how we see it. We know her identity comes just as much from the fact she grew up Baptist in the days of revival evangelists crying and pleading ‘o sinner come home’, so she did, multiple times, not to mention the fact her daddy ran off when she was fourteen with a woman half his age, plus the fact Jess up and married Morgan the day after May graduation and mercy by Christmas she’d given birth to an olive skinned daughter named Lucchese, named after the brand of boots her daddy wore when he lived in the same house as Jess, in the time of her life she remembers as being nothing but happy. Dear lord she got saved again the other night and declared she’s forgetting all that history because scripture clearly says it is what lies behind. But we bet Jess has her fingers crossed in her pockets hoping that Jesus really saved her this time so maybe she won’t cry so much during the day and maybe she can be the kind of wife Morgan won’t ever leave and maybe she won’t resent Lucchese for being so needy because god knows not a lick of this is her little girl’s fault but rather the drama of the family and faith she was born to. Jess, bless her heart, may never work this out. But there’s hope for that little girl, a chance she’ll become where she’s from because sure she came from Jesus but she’s also from those people and this place and that’s just the way it is. At least that’s how it looks from over here.
We all know ‘Jess and Lucchese’ and the praying keeps us awake all night.
“Don’t rewrite history, Monk; I was there.”
“Don’t let your history rewrite you, Rider.” -from a novel, “The Summer Boy.”
But, I WANT answers. I want closure.
This sounds like my walk of faith and recovery, perfectly captured. Decades later, I now know I’ll always be a work in progress.
Mercy me, John. This is so right on, it’s scary. As always, I think you for your wisdom and your courage – and your skill beyond measure. (I looked up that Sand County book on Amazon and there is more than one edition – one by Schwartz & Leopold, one by Meine & Leopold and then, of course, there are a few other items on the page. . . exactly which one do you recommend?)
Diana, the one by Leopold and Schwartz is my recommendation.
Uh. .. I THANK you, not think you. Sheesh.