A Poem: A Bonfire

Each night,
at the emergence of the stars,
the Redeemer lights a bonfire.

In which,
gone are the scraps of our days,
now blown ashes in the air.

And regret,
with its sharp, bitter claws,
a scurrying thing in shadows.

And pain,
a medicine used to restore—
with loss, a grief made perfect in surrender.

And sin, something we learn to shed
with practice, as wind-borne leaves.

So that each dawn
we are a people renewed by sleep,
and our own inclination toward the good,

restored with slates sanctified by light,
and the rising of the sun upon the world.

Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2023

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‘The prophet said:
“The old life is a grass life,
its beauty as short lived as wildflowers.
Grass dries up, flowers droop,
God’s word goes on and on forever.”
This is the Word that conceived the new life in you.”
~ From 1 Peter 1, The Message Bible

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‘So clean house!
Make a clean sweep…
You’ve had a taste of God.
Now, like infants at the breast,
drink deep
of God’s pure kindness.’
~ From 1 Peter 2, The Message Bible