Unforgivable
And on the box the blurry
Images of toddler led
By older lads astray
Lost for all eternity
Replaying in our memories
Forever on a loop
With bitter mother’s words
Redemption or forgiveness
Acrid burning in her throat
Spat out
So what of Lent and Easter
One sacrifice for all
Trespasses reciprocal
Forgiven?
That little lad now grown a man
The tabloid’s evil spawn
Empathy not extended quite that far
To loveless ten year old
A nation not now willing
To embrace a loving god
But quick to spot the Devil in our midst
To fetch the wood and bang the nails
A gibbet or a cross?
Be deaf and blind to inner pain
Refuse to see a link
Declare beyond the pale
This mother’s son an angel
The other, go to hell
And on the box the blurry
Images of toddler led
By older lads astray
Lost for all eternity
Replaying in our memories
Forever on a loop
With bitter mother’s words
Redemption or forgiveness
Acrid burning in her throat
Spat out
So what of Lent and Easter
One sacrifice for all
Trespasses reciprocal
Forgiven?
That little lad now grown a man
The tabloid’s evil spawn
Empathy not extended quite that far
To loveless ten year old
A nation not now willing
To embrace a loving god
But quick to spot the Devil in our midst
To fetch the wood and bang the nails
A gibbet or a cross?
Be deaf and blind to inner pain
Refuse to see a link
Declare beyond the pale
This mother’s son an angel
The other, go to hell
6th March 2010, Hounoux
Thank you, Sally. I had been so depressed by the level of debate/conversation over here! We need to pray again for Robert and John. Yes, and for the mother too. How well I understand her bitterness! All the "If only..." thoughts she has to live with. Much easier to blame two ten-year-olds than a moment's inattention.
ReplyDeleteGood words Sally, todays news of the reasons why he has been arrested has upped the anti of course. Deal with dilemma's of forgiveness all the time at work particularly when you look into the story behind the one who has inflicted such terrible pain/harm.
ReplyDeleteMy Dan had used the title word in an email to me regarding someone else's much more minor act and it kept reverberating in my head. I remember us doing a great deal of work together as a staff at St Barnabas when working out our Behaviour policy, and my then nursery nurse, a fervent Christian, admitted under pressure at last that she felt some people are just 'irredeemable'. I was so shocked, but glad to have it out in the open because the way she behaved towards some children had made me suspect it for a long time.
ReplyDeleteFrom Pam, via email
ReplyDeleteThis one is very unsettling. I wonder if many people do see all those children as victims? It’s frightening sometimes to see the public’s reaction.
From Jen Hatte, friend in Australia
ReplyDeleteHi Sal,
This is so ... What cliché can I use : 'deep and meaningful', 'beautiful' - both those, of course. You get right to the heart of the matter - the overarching matter.
It's going on my office door , if that's okay.