Had Judas given more forethought
to the misery he'd cause
by his selfish kiss of betrayal
would he have taken time to pause?
Would he have run back to the garden
and try to save the Lord
lanced the soldier's ear
like Peter with his sword?
Would he have tried to hide the Lord
safely tucked away
in some small room he'd known about
where he could quietly stay?
Would he have stood by His side
and said "Crucify me as well!"
unable to leave the one
he had believed would save him from hell?
Poor, poor Judas,
why did you turn awry
and forget to glance upon our Lord
with love and sorrow in your eye?
Why didn't you beg for forgiveness
and admit your evil act,
could you too, have had a chance for peace,
in our Savior's loving pact?
Instead you let despair
hang you from a tree
soul forever lost
name darkened through history.
Poor, poor Judas
I want to learn from you
the lesson we must all accept
and share with others, too.
God will always love us
His mercy never ends
if we but say we're sorry
and work to make amends.
a thought-provoking poem, especially the parts that we are like Judas, and that Christ forgives even Judas' actions, had he only asked.
ReplyDeleteAnne, Hi, I agree very much with Gardenia's comment. This is your poetry, right, Anne? It's lovely. The opening, the simplicity, the repetition of 'poor poor Judas' and the closing are all such a nice and engaging fit. Indeed, "Had Judas given more forethought ... would he have taken time to pause?" Indeed, would he have? And do we? as you and then Gardenia suggest. God bless you, I pray...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. ...'Instead you let despair hang you from a tree'... What a line. The whole poesm is filled with visuals, but that line especially. Peace.
ReplyDeleteAnne,
ReplyDeleteThis one dug right into my heart. I have often pondered poor Judas' fate and wondered "What if?" This was a very beautiful poem, I loved it. It's funny, some poetry leaves me feeling blank but yours never does because it comes from the heart and that's where I feel it, too. When I was doing the poetry prompt I had to stop because so many of the poems left me with a dull feeling in my soul and I couldn't lie and pretend it touched me when it didn't. Yours does touch me...very much. May God continue to inspire you :)
Anne, thank you for this poem. Thank you for the generosity of spirit you showed towards Judas here. It's so easy to hate him, but you model Christ's endless love in your writing.
ReplyDeleteThis really hits home to me, given that my community has been touched by tragic suicides recently. I so wish that the teenage victims had been able to accept that there is ALWAYS another, better path.
I echo the person who wrote that your poetry really comes from the heart. Thank you for sharing this.