Pressured to capitulate; no! though bowled in and rock-bound,
Escarpments sheer, towering in on every side, with grit I gripped,
My fleshy fingers, ripped ragged, food for sharp, frigid, flint edges,
I clawed my way out and rose only to find myself before the Judge.
The disgrace, the wondering thoughts, the invaders from history,
I’ve overcome. now, this Penitentiary, I welcome.
The presentation of one’s whole life; purification; I tremble,
Shake at the prospect; a Just Judge with rights to one’s innermost space.
A fugitive in hiding, a convict behind a pleasant façade, (a banished soul?);
Before God Almighty, all is revealed. I’ll
serve my penance -
A purgatorial sentencing - reparations and atonement for all that is due,
His Justice severe, merciful and fair, forever cleansing, cleansed forever!
The steep heap of past sins, rehashed, replayed; condemnable.
Commendable: the saintly struggle, the arduous climb,
The saint of faults. for my final days were spent in strife but
I didn’t strive alone -a beggar of grace - I too took up my cross so that one day, I too could rise anew.
Gary Edward Geraci