Forsaken
-poetry from Work in Progress: Dialogues and Poems
I felt moved to post this. It’s from my newest publication and it seemed apropos after a particularly terrible Facebook slap-war occurred between a couple of members of the LDS Church and a non-believing friend of mine — who was a relative of one of them.
So, I felt… inspired to post this. It was originally posted in a publication called Mormondom — a publication FOR members of the Church. Because truth is truth is truth, “wherever we may find it.”
What happened on that thread was shameful. My hope is, these members “see the light.”
Forsaken
…and so Jesus, he took his stripes and lashes and crown
of thorns. He took the beatings, he agonized in the garden,
bearing all our suffering. He made no sound, no
complaint, just uncertainty (…Father, let this cup…)
until — until the moment The Lord withdrew Himself
from His son. It was then Jesus cried out in agony: My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? I’ve heard it said
that this single moment of weakness came because
the Savior no longer felt the Spirit of the Lord — and yet…
I wonder, as he shivered in that darkest place, still
mortal and sublimely human, if Jesus was merely
a son — a son who felt abandoned by his father.
…and I hear cries of the suffering all around me. Families
torn and broken; parentless children, siblings who share
blood but no words. For those who leave the fold —
forsaken on earth for the promise of an Eternal
Life beyond — do believers hear your cries, feel your
isolation? Perhaps they’re too busy inside cocoons of
righteousness, holding fast to family members who
remain huddled within the folds of certainty.
Love one another.
Do they not hear the Savior’s pain as he called out,
alone and afraid in his moment of abandonment?
His cries, his pleas, for the love of his Father; the
warmth of the most sacred earthly bond — love,
without condition. It was the Savior’s final lesson.
And yet, the cries of loss and isolation go
unheeded — ignored, scorned, nails repeatedly
driven home within words void of love,
filled with contempt. Forsaken here on
earth — as I have loved you — forsaken in
the name of our Father,
who dwells in Heaven.
— J.A. Carter-Winward
