love saves us by teaching us how to be a stranger.

You may pass This life as A shadow of Who you Truly are.

Only then Can you do The least harm To yourself,

And more Importantly, others.

The happiest ending may be not getting what you want,

But accepting superior things instead.

It is not an easy truth to accept. This is the stuff of heroes.

That is the gift of love.

#Poetry

and if you have the ability to love love yourself first

I love reading Burkowski after a couple of drinks. He's dirty and gross and bold in a way that few writers are without being unreadable. Even so, he is not for the faint of heart. Simple, but sometimes crude.

This poem certainly needed the first 3rd chopped, but I like the rest of it:

and if you have the ability to love love yourself first

but always be aware of the possibility of total defeat whether the reason for that defeat seems right or wrong -

an early taste of death is not necessarily a bad thing.

stay out of churches and bars and museums, and like the spider be patient - time is everybody's cross, plus exile defeat treachery

all that dross.

stay with the beer.

beer is continuous blood.

a continuous lover.

get a large typewriter and as the footsteps go up and down outside your window

hit that thing hit it hard

make it a heavyweight fight

make it the bull when he first charges in

and remember the old dogs who fought so well: Hemingway, Celine, Dostoevsky, Hamsun.

If you think they didn't go crazy in tiny rooms just like you're doing now

without women without food without hope

then you're not ready.

drink more beer. there's time. and if there's not that's all right too.

#poetry

I am not afraid.

“Most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams.”

People, you know, survive. You gotta survive. But then you have to know when to step away from that survival. Because see, life is not—it's never going to be the same. It's always changing. And it's not always comfortable. And you have to take a chance and a risk and the chance and risk you have to take is on you, right? It's investing in you... The universe is ready to catch you. But you have to take the step

#book #quote #poetry #motivation #aom

Discuss...

Art is not for commodity. It is for passion.

Someone set the sky on fire.
Just now—
in those grey-dark moments
before the day begins,
a match was struck,
a tiny ember glowing.

In minutes it flared
into a red-hot blaze,
burning through
the eastern clouds.

Pastels spread,
then yellow,
orange,
red,
indigo,
violet—
a spectrum spilling wide.

No gavel will ever fall
on this masterpiece.
The artist sketched it in a breath,
then cast it into being,
a gift to his
greater creation.

—

#essay #memoir #journal #100daystooffset #writing #poetry #

Eruptions are not selective. Everything get's burned equally.

A living book About the dead

Becomes testimony If the subjects still draw breath.

Small paper rooms where things unsaid drew breath between two

invisible souls, But suddenly all that blood

filled the vesicles and the organs and eyes pierced the nakedness

Like a Scalpel.

Nay—

Like a rusty Spoon.

There is the ordinary: Ticket stubs. Weather. Sawdust of a days labor.

The kind of scraps a life keeps to one day look again and remember the tiny forgotten joys.

But the mind for her inner world stumbled in innocence and a young morality.

Not as a daughter opening paper, but as a giant stumbling through a city.

And there I was, In the sunshine of her anger.

Under law.

My tenderness made evidence. Every mile given motive. Every meal, every laugh, every child dragged beneath the black light and ordered to confess.

To love a mother is well, unless it is the wrong kind of love.

Or comes at the wrong time.

His was both.

So the years fell backward.

All the old rooms changed color. Every laugh, every dinner The quiet nights and the games in the sand.

All our lives. Suddenly the memories were not the warmth of a man loving deeply and like family.

They were the desperate manipulations of a prowling wolf.

A hidden love may poison a present without counterfeiting pasts.

But not tonight. Time travel went back and killed the boy.

He loved the children as children. The father as a man. The house as a house. The mother as a flame He kept it behind glass so long even she mistook restraint for coldness.

Call that cowardice, maybe.

He caledl it hunger buried alive.

The long theology of not touching the thing that burns.

But do not call a life's kindness the long game.

How could she know that he hid to preserve his soul and sanity alive, that his mask was not corrosive, but preservative.

How could she know her wellspring Fell in love not with the performance, but honest breath.

The same earnestness that made his accuser feel inspired and loved.

That man was never a lie.

Do not say the beach lied. Do not say the miles were lust in flops. Do not say the hand on the shoulder was a thief rehearsing.

That is what rage does when it rides upon righteousness.

The trampling steed.

It needs one villain large enough to hold the terror.

It needs one sewer-word for all this human weather.

Debauchery.

God, what a word.

A word with mud on its boots. A word that wants no face. A word that makes a woman porcelain and a man the filth.

As if she had no ache of her own.

As if the man arrived with a rope and not a knot.

As if love were only clean when it had permission.

Juliette taught us that even when there is no ornament, or possession, Love still has binds.

Now everyone is guarding someone.

The daughter guards the mother. The mother guards the wreckage. The father guards the name of the house. God, maybe, guards the silence.

And he, he stands outside it all, holding the match, holding the wound, holding the years that were real even if now the paint peeles back.

There is no defense that does not sound like pleading.

No apology that does not sound like strategy.

No explanation that can enter a room where the hammer is still swinging.

So let the notebook close.

Smoke burns my eyes.

We let the child hate him with the clean bright hate of someone whose playrooms just made a terrible sound.

But somewhere beneath the rubble there remains this:

He was not lying.

He was sometimes failing.

There is a difference.

And God help us, it may be the difference between a man and a monster.

This is important. Because he always believed Himself a monster.

While mother was teaching Him to fly.

Reality arrived, revoked the license, condemned his love of flight and hacked in the most cruel way possible the wings.

Wings that bore him.

—

#poetry

We asked why God would not hear us, while ignoring the cries we refused to hear.

“Call out full-throated; do not hold back! Raise your voice like a horn. Proclaim to my people their revolt, To the house of Jacob their sins.

They seek me day after day, And they express delight to know my ways, As if they were a nation that had practiced righteousness And had not abandoned the justice of their God. They ask me for righteous judgments, Delighting to draw close to God:

‘Why do you not see when we fast? And why do you not notice when we afflict ourselves?’

Because on the day of your fast, you pursue your own interests, And you oppress your laborers. Your fasting ends in quarrels and fights, And you strike with the fist of wickedness. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice heard in heaven.

Should the fast that I choose be like this, As a day for someone to afflict himself, To bow down his head like a rush, To make his bed on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast and a day pleasing to Jehovah?

No, this is the fast that I choose: To remove the fetters of wickedness, To untie the bands of the yoke bar, To let the oppressed go free, And to break in half every yoke bar; To share your bread with the hungry, To bring the poor and homeless into your house, To clothe someone naked when you see him, And not to turn your back on your own flesh.

Then your light will shine through like the dawn, And your healing will spring up quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, And the glory of Jehovah will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and Jehovah will answer; You will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am!’

If you remove from among you the yoke bar And stop pointing your finger and speaking maliciously, If you grant to the hungry what you yourself desire And satisfy those who are afflicted, Then your light will shine even in the darkness, And your gloom will be like midday.

Jehovah will always lead you And satisfy you even in a parched land; He will invigorate your bones, And you will become like a well-watered garden, Like a spring whose waters never fail.

They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account, And you will restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the repairer of the broken walls, The restorer of roadways by which to dwell.

If because of the Sabbath you refrain from pursuing your own interests on my holy day And you call the Sabbath an exquisite delight, a holy day of Jehovah, a day to be glorified, And you glorify it rather than pursuing your own interests and speaking idle words, Then you will find your exquisite delight in Jehovah, And I will make you ride on the high places of the earth. I will cause you to eat from the inheritance of Jacob your forefather, For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.”

Isaiah 59

Look! The hand of Jehovah is not too short to save, Nor is his ear too dull to hear. No, your own errors have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face from you, And he refuses to hear you.

For your palms are polluted with blood And your fingers with error. Your lips speak lies, and your tongue mutters unrighteousness. No one calls out for righteousness, And no one goes to court in truthfulness. They trust in unreality and speak what is worthless. They conceive trouble and give birth to what is harmful.

They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake, And they weave the cobweb of a spider. Anyone who eats their eggs would die, And the egg that is crushed hatches a viper. Their cobweb will not serve as a garment, Nor will they cover themselves with what they make. Their works are harmful, And deeds of violence are in their hands.

Their feet run to do evil, And they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are harmful thoughts; Ruin and misery are in their ways. They have not known the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks. They make their roadways crooked; No one treading on them will know peace.

That is why justice is far away from us, And righteousness does not overtake us. We keep hoping for light, but look! there is darkness; For brightness, but we keep walking in gloom. We grope for the wall like blind men; Like those without eyes we keep groping. We stumble at high noon as in evening darkness; Among the strong we are just like the dead.

We all keep growling like bears And cooing mournfully like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far away from us. For our revolts are many before you; Each of our sins testifies against us. For our revolts are with us; We well know our errors.

We have transgressed and denied Jehovah; We have turned our backs on our God. We have spoken of oppression and revolt; We have conceived lies and muttered false words from the heart.

Justice is driven back, And righteousness stands far off; For truth has stumbled in the public square, And what is upright is unable to enter. Truth has vanished, And anyone who turns away from bad is plundered.

Jehovah saw this and was displeased, For there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And he was astonished that no one interceded, So his own arm brought about salvation, And his own righteousness supported him.

Then he put on righteousness like a coat of mail And the helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance as his clothing And wrapped himself with zeal like a coat. He will reward them for what they have done: Wrath to his adversaries, retribution to his enemies. And to the islands he will repay their due.

From the sunset they will fear the name of Jehovah And from the sunrise his glory, For he will come in like a rushing river, Which the spirit of Jehovah drives along.

“To Zion the Repurchaser will come, To those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares Jehovah.

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Jehovah. “My spirit that is on you and my words that I have placed in your mouth—they will not be removed from your mouth, from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your grandchildren,” says Jehovah, “from now on and forever.”

#poetry #bible #isaiah

“Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

God is love.

She sought it in darkness and became the light.

What choice has one, when all goes out, but to set the soul aflame that others may find their way?

At last to see the love she needed and became.

She was invisible. She gave herself away, hoping to be seen.

But accolades are only garnish, a lattice laid over emptiness.

Where are the seeing, the naming, the welcome—

but in God’s love? But in real love?

Only the truest makes us whole.

Everything else:

just salve on the gushing wound of existence.

#poetry #sineadoconner

here we go again

“Where Is the Certificate?” (50:1–3) > Speaker: Jehovah

This is what Jehovah says: “Where is the divorce certificate of your mother, whom I sent away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look! It was because of your own errors you were sold, And because of your own transgressions your mother was sent away. Why, then, was no one here when I came? Why did no one answer when I called? Is my hand too short to redeem, Or is there no power in me to rescue? Look! With my rebuke I dry up the sea; I make rivers a desert. Their fish rot for lack of water, And they die because of thirst. I clothe the heavens with gloom, And I make sackcloth their covering.”

👂 The Obedient Servant (50:4–9)

Speaker: The Servant

The Sovereign Lord Jehovah has given me the tongue of those taught, So that I may know how to answer the tired one with the right word. He awakens me morning by morning; He awakens my ear to listen like the taught ones. The Sovereign Lord Jehovah has opened my ear, And I was not rebellious. I did not turn in the opposite direction. I offered my back to those striking me And my cheeks to those who plucked them bare. I did not hide my face from humiliating things and from spit. But the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will help me. That is why I will not feel humiliated. That is why I have set my face like a flint, And I know that I will not be put to shame. The One who declares me righteous is near. Who can accuse me? Let us stand up together. Who has a case against me? Let him approach me. Look! The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will help me. Who will pronounce me guilty? Look! They will all wear out like a garment. A moth will eat them up.

🔥 Two Ways to Walk (50:10–11)

Speaker: Jehovah

Who among you fears Jehovah And listens to the voice of his servant? Who has walked in deep darkness, without any brightness? Let him trust in the name of Jehovah and support himself on his God. “Look! All of you who are igniting a fire, Making sparks fly, Walk in the light of your fire, Among the sparks you have set ablaze. This is what you will have from my hand: In sheer pain you will lie down.

🪨 Look to the Rock (51:1–3)

Speaker: Jehovah

“Listen to me, you who are pursuing righteousness, You who are seeking Jehovah. Look to the rock from which you were hewn And to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you. For he was only one when I called him, And I blessed him and made him many. For Jehovah will comfort Zion. He will bring comfort to all her ruins, And he will make her wilderness like Eden And her desert plain like the garden of Jehovah. Exultation and rejoicing will be found in her, Thanksgiving and melodious song.

🌍 What Lasts Forever (51:4–8)

Speaker: Jehovah

“Pay attention to me, O my people, And give ear to me, my nation. For a law will go out from me, And my justice I will establish as a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near. My salvation will go out, And my arms will judge the peoples. In me the islands will hope, And for my arm they will wait. Raise your eyes to the heavens, And look at the earth below. For the heavens will disperse in fragments like smoke; The earth will wear out like a garment, And its inhabitants will die like gnats. But my salvation will be eternal, And my righteousness will never fail. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, The people with my law in their heart. Do not be afraid of the taunts of mortal men, And do not be terrified because of their insults. For a moth will eat them up just like a garment; The clothes moth will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, And my salvation for all generations.”

💪 “Awake, Arm of Jehovah!” (51:9–11)

Speaker: The People

Awake! Awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of Jehovah! Awake as in the days of long ago, as in past generations. Was it not you who broke Rahab to pieces, Who pierced the sea monster? Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the vast deep? The one who made the depths of the sea a roadway for the repurchased ones to cross? The redeemed ones of Jehovah will return. They will come to Zion with a joyful cry, And unending joy will crown them. Exultation and rejoicing will be theirs, And grief and sighing will flee away.

🫂 “I Am the One Comforting You” (51:12–16)

Speaker: Jehovah

“I myself am the One comforting you. Why should you be afraid of a mortal man who will die And of a son of man who will wither like green grass? Why do you forget Jehovah your Maker, The One who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth? And all day long you were in constant fear of the rage of the oppressor, As though he were in a position to bring you to ruin. Where, now, is the rage of the oppressor? The one bent over in chains will soon be set free; He will not die and go into the pit, Nor will his bread be lacking. But I am Jehovah your God, Who stirs up the sea and makes its waves boisterous —Jehovah of armies is his name. I will put my words in your mouth, And with the shadow of my hand I will cover you, In order to plant the heavens and to lay the foundation of the earth And to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

🍷 The Cup Removed (51:17–23)

Speaker: Jehovah

Awake! Awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah his cup of wrath. You have drunk the goblet; You have drained out the cup causing staggering. Not one of all the sons whom she bore is there to guide her, And not one of all the sons whom she raised has taken hold of her hand. These two things have befallen you. Who will sympathize with you? Destruction and devastation, hunger and sword! Who will comfort you? Your sons have fainted. They lie down at every street corner Like wild sheep in the net. They are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God. So please listen to this, O woman afflicted and drunk, though not with wine. This is what your Lord Jehovah says, your God who defends his people: “Look! I will take from your hand the cup causing staggering, The goblet, my cup of wrath; You will never drink it again. I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, Those who said to you, ‘Bow down so that we may walk over you!’ So you made your back like the ground, Like a street for them to walk on.”

#poetry #bible #isaiah

“If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river.”

Isaiah 48

Jehovah:

Hear this, O house of Jacob, You who call yourselves by the name of Israel And who have come from the waters of Judah, You who swear by the name of Jehovah And who call on the God of Israel, Though not in truth and righteousness.

For they call themselves after the holy city And seek the support of the God of Israel, Whose name is Jehovah of armies.

“The former things I told you long ago. From my own mouth they went out, And I made them known. Suddenly I took action, and they came about.

Because I knew how stubborn you are —That your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead is copper—

I told you long ago. Before it came about, I caused you to hear it, So that you could not say, ‘My idol did this; My carved image and my metal image commanded this.’

You have heard and seen all of this. Will you not declare it?

From now on I am announcing new things to you, Guarded secrets that you have not known.

Only now are they being created, and not long ago, Things that you never heard before today, So that you cannot say, ‘Look! I already know them.’

No, you have not heard, you have not known, And in the past your ears were not opened. For I know that you are very treacherous, And you have been called a transgressor from birth.

But for the sake of my name I will hold back my anger; For my own praise I will restrain myself toward you, And I will not do away with you.

Look! I have refined you, but not in the form of silver. I have tested you in the smelting furnace of affliction.

For my own sake, for my own sake I will act, For how could I let myself be profaned? I give my glory to no one else.

Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the same One. I am the first; I am also the last.

My own hand laid the foundation of the earth, And my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand up together.

Gather together, all of you, and listen. Who among them has announced these things? Jehovah has loved him. He will carry out his delight against Babylon, And his arm will come against the Chaldeans.

I myself have spoken, and I have called him. I have brought him, and his way will be successful.

Come near to me, and hear this. From the very start I have not spoken in secret. From the time it happened I was there.”

Narrator:

And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and his spirit.

Jehovah:

“This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel:

‘I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself, The One guiding you in the way you should walk.

If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Your offspring would be as many as the sand And your descendants as its grains. Their name would never be cut off or annihilated from before me.’

Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Announce it with a joyful cry! Proclaim it! Make it known to the ends of the earth.

Say: ‘Jehovah has repurchased his servant Jacob. They did not become thirsty when he led them through devastated places. He caused water to flow out of the rock for them; He split a rock and made water gush out.’”

“There is no peace,” says Jehovah, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 49

Servant:

Listen to me, you islands, And pay attention, you faraway nations.

Jehovah has called me before I was born. From the time I was in my mother’s womb he has made mention of my name.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword; He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He made me a polished arrow; He concealed me in his quiver.

He said to me: “You are my servant, O Israel, Through whom I will show my splendor.”

But I said:

“I have toiled for nothing. I used up my strength for an unreality, in vain. But surely my judgment is with Jehovah, And my wages with my God.”

And now Jehovah, the One who formed me from the womb as his servant, Has said for me to bring Jacob back to him, So that Israel may be gathered to him.

I will be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God will have become my strength.

Jehovah:

“And he said:

‘It is not enough that you are my servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob And to bring back those who were preserved of Israel.

I have also given you as a light of nations, So that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.’”

“This is what Jehovah, the Repurchaser of Israel, his Holy One, says To the one who is despised, To the one who is detested by the nation, To the servant of rulers:

‘Kings will see and rise up, And princes will bow down Because of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’”

“This is what Jehovah says:

‘In a time of favor I answered you, And in a day of salvation I helped you; I kept safeguarding you to give you as a covenant for the people, To rehabilitate the land, To cause them to possess their desolate inheritances,

To say to the prisoners, “Come out!” And to those in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”

By the roadways they will feed, Along all the worn paths will be their pastures.

They will not go hungry, nor will they thirst, Nor will scorching heat or the sun beat down on them. For the One who has mercy on them will lead them, And he will guide them by the springs of water.

I will make all my mountains into a road, And my highways will be raised up.

Look! These are coming from far away, And look! these from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim.’”

Shout for joy, you heavens, and rejoice, you earth. Let the mountains become cheerful with a joyful cry. For Jehovah has comforted his people, And he shows mercy to his own afflicted ones.

Zion:

“Jehovah has abandoned me, And Jehovah has forgotten me.”

Jehovah:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child Or have no compassion for the son of her womb? Even if these women forget, I would never forget you.

Look! On my palms I have engraved you. Your walls are always before me.

Your sons hurry back. Those who tore you down and devastated you will depart from you.

Raise your eyes and look all around. They are all gathering together. They are coming to you.

As surely as I am living,” declares Jehovah, “You will clothe yourself with all of them as with ornaments, And you will fasten them on yourself as a bride does.

Although your places were devastated and desolate and your land was in ruins, Now it will become too cramped for those dwelling there, And those who swallowed you down will be far away.

The sons born when you were bereaved will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for me. Make room for me to dwell here.’

And you will say in your heart, ‘Who has fathered these for me, Since I am a woman bereaved of children and barren, Exiled and taken prisoner? Who has raised these? Look! I was left all alone, So where have these come from?’”

“This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says:

‘Look! I will raise up my hand to the nations, And I will lift up my signal to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms And carry your daughters on their shoulders.

Kings will become caretakers for you, And their princesses will be your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground And lick the dust of your feet, And you will have to know that I am Jehovah; Those hoping in me will not be put to shame.’”

“Can those already captured be taken from a mighty man, Or can the captives of the tyrant be rescued?”

“But this is what Jehovah says:

‘Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken away, And those captured by the tyrant will be rescued.

I will oppose those who oppose you, And I will save your own sons.

I will make those who mistreat you eat their own flesh, And as with sweet wine, they will become drunk with their own blood.

And all people will have to know that I am Jehovah, Your Savior and your Repurchaser, The Powerful One of Jacob.’”

—

Hear this, O house of Jacob, You who call yourselves by the name of Israel+ And who have come from the waters of* Judah, You who swear by the name of Jehovah+ And who call on the God of Israel, Though not in truth and righteousness.+ 2 For they call themselves after the holy city+ And seek the support of the God of Israel,+ Whose name is Jehovah of armies. 3 “The former* things I told you long ago. From my own mouth they went out, And I made them known.+ Suddenly I took action, and they came about.+ 4 Because I knew how stubborn you are —That your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead is copper+— 5 I told you long ago. Before it came about, I caused you to hear it, So that you could not say, ‘My idol did this; My carved image and my metal image* commanded this.’ 6 You have heard and seen all of this. Will you not declare it?+ From now on I am announcing new things to you,+ Guarded secrets that you have not known. 7 Only now are they being created, and not long ago, Things that you never heard before today, So that you cannot say, ‘Look! I already know them.’ 8 No, you have not heard,+ you have not known, And in the past your ears were not opened. For I know that you are very treacherous,+ And you have been called a transgressor from birth.+ 9 But for the sake of my name I will hold back my anger;+ For my own praise I will restrain myself toward you, And I will not do away with you.+ 10 Look! I have refined you, but not in the form of silver.+ I have tested* you in the smelting furnace of affliction.+ 11 For my own sake, for my own sake I will act,+ For how could I let myself be profaned?+ I give my glory to no one else.* 12 Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am the same One.+ I am the first; I am also the last.+ 13 My own hand laid the foundation of the earth,+ And my right hand spread out the heavens.+ When I call to them, they stand up together. 14 Gather together, all of you, and listen. Who among them has announced these things? Jehovah has loved him.+ He will carry out his delight against Babylon,+ And his arm will come against the Chal·deʹans.+ 15 I myself have spoken, and I have called him.+ I have brought him, and his way will be successful.+ 16 Come near to me, and hear this. From the very start I have not spoken in secret.+ From the time it happened I was there.” And now the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has sent me, and* his spirit. 17 This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel:+ “I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself,+ The One guiding you in the way you should walk.+ 18 If only you would pay attention to my commandments!+ Then your peace would become just like a river+ And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.+ 19 Your offspring would be as many as the sand And your descendants as its grains.+ Their name would never be cut off or annihilated from before me.” 20 Go out from Babylon!+ Flee from the Chal·deʹans! Announce it with a joyful cry! Proclaim it!+ Make it known to the ends of the earth.+ Say: “Jehovah has repurchased his servant Jacob.+ 21 They did not become thirsty when he led them through devastated places.+ He caused water to flow out of the rock for them; He split a rock and made water gush out.”+ 22 “There is no peace,” says Jehovah, “for the wicked.”+ 49 Listen to me, you islands, And pay attention, you faraway nations.+ Jehovah has called me before I was born.+ From the time I was in my mother’s womb he has made mention of my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand.+ He made me a polished arrow; He concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me: “You are my servant, O Israel,+ Through whom I will show my splendor.”+ 4 But I said: “I have toiled for nothing. I used up my strength for an unreality, in vain. But surely my judgment is with Jehovah, And my wages* with my God.”+ 5 And now Jehovah, the One who formed me from the womb as his servant, Has said for me to bring Jacob back to him, So that Israel may be gathered to him.+ I will be glorified in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God will have become my strength. 6 And he said: “It is not enough that you are my servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob And to bring back those who were preserved of Israel. I have also given you as a light of nations,+ So that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”+ 7 This is what Jehovah, the Repurchaser of Israel, his Holy One,+ says to the one who is despised,+ to the one who is detested by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise up, And princes will bow down Because of Jehovah, who is faithful,+ The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”+ 8 This is what Jehovah says: “In a time of favor I answered you,+ And in a day of salvation I helped you;+ I kept safeguarding you to give you as a covenant for the people,+ To rehabilitate the land, To cause them to possess their desolate inheritances,+ 9 To say to the prisoners, ‘Come out!’+ And to those in the darkness,+ ‘Show yourselves!’ By the roadways they will feed, Along all the worn paths* will be their pastures. 10 They will not go hungry, nor will they thirst,+ Nor will scorching heat or the sun beat down on them.+ For the One who has mercy on them will lead them,+ And he will guide them by the springs of water.+ 11 I will make all my mountains into a road, And my highways will be raised up.+ 12 Look! These are coming from far away,+ And look! these from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Siʹnim.”+ 13 Shout for joy, you heavens, and rejoice, you earth.+ Let the mountains become cheerful with a joyful cry.+ For Jehovah has comforted his people,+ And he shows mercy to his own afflicted ones.+ 14 But Zion kept saying: “Jehovah has abandoned me,+ and Jehovah has forgotten me.”+ 15 Can a woman forget her nursing child Or have no compassion for the son of her womb? Even if these women forget, I would never forget you.+ 16 Look! On my palms I have engraved you. Your walls are always before me. 17 Your sons hurry back. Those who tore you down and devastated you will depart from you. 18 Raise your eyes and look all around. They are all gathering together.+ They are coming to you. “As surely as I am living,” declares Jehovah, “You will clothe yourself with all of them as with ornaments, And you will fasten them on yourself as a bride does. 19 Although your places were devastated and desolate and your land was in ruins,+ Now it will become too cramped for those dwelling there,+ And those who swallowed you down+ will be far away.+ 20 The sons born when you were bereaved will say in your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for me. Make room for me to dwell here.’+ 21 And you will say in your heart, ‘Who has fathered these for me, Since I am a woman bereaved of children and barren, Exiled and taken prisoner? Who has raised these?+ Look! I was left all alone,+ So where have these come from?’”+ 22 This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: “Look! I will raise up my hand to the nations, And I will lift up my signal* to the peoples.+ They will bring your sons in their arms* And carry your daughters on their shoulders.+ 23 Kings will become caretakers for you,+ And their princesses will be your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground+ And lick the dust of your feet,+ And you will have to know that I am Jehovah; Those hoping in me will not be put to shame.”+ 24 Can those already captured be taken from a mighty man, Or can the captives of the tyrant be rescued? 25 But this is what Jehovah says: “Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken away,+ And those captured by the tyrant will be rescued.+ I will oppose those who oppose you,+ And I will save your own sons. 26 I will make those who mistreat you eat their own flesh, And as with sweet wine, they will become drunk with their own blood. And all people* will have to know that I am Jehovah,+ Your Savior+ and your Repurchaser,+ The Powerful One of Jacob.”+

#poetry #bible #isaiah

The first home any of us knew, was a mother's heart.

Tonight she is soft and loved,

by the warm light only a daughter can bestow.

Tonight no candle flame can match the heart and tiny hands she once felt growing inside her.

Unseen, they still reach for her face,

as though the whole world were simple as:

a mother, an evening,

and love enough to light eternity.

The first light, best light, we ever know.

#poetry