Tag: golden shovel poem

The spheres all align, but
I wallow in trepidation,
Worrying about details of
Which You have promised even the 
Birds have no fear. Yet I juggle the spheres
And think my way is greater,
Thus upsetting the order even though
I know I should trust You far
More. My struggle for control is
Ongoing, even though you have declared me innocent.

“But trepidation of the spheres/Though greater far, is innocent.” 
~John Donne, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”

(So! What is a “syzygy”? Basically it’s “the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (such as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system.” (According to Merriam-Webster)

When I heard the prompt, I first thought of the phrase “the music of the spheres,” and that made me think of a line from John Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” so I decided to use that line and create another Golden Shovel poem. Somehow it ended up as a poem alluding to Matthew 6:25-27 and Romans 7:14-20. How’s that for an alignment?)

As a kid, I loved to draw and
Created stories with characters who
I met in other tales. Who knows
How much these stories formed me, but
There is no question that
Many fairy tales you
Grew up on have
Been the roots of stories that have come
To me. As I said, I used to
Draw my stories—often royal
Princesses under enchantment or in low position,
In need of rescue by a prince, for
That was the most romantic. Such
Tales I loved, and I still have a
Soft spot for reading and writing them, because over time
I’ve realized there is a truth there, as
Old as the Rescuer whose story has always been this.

“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.” ~Esther 4:14b

(Today was “Form Friday” so I used a poetic form again, but this time I chose from two suggested. I picked the Golden Shovel, which borrows a quote (referenced at the end of mine). Each line of the poem ends with a word from the quote so if you read down the end of the lines you’ll see the quote. The poem doesn’t have to relate to the quote at all, but I’m hoping my does in a way…)