Tenebrae 

Lament of the Wounded

How long, oh Lord, will I walk around wounded?

How long will I don gauze as my garment?

How long will my plea go unanswered?

How long will your face turn away?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

My soul is crying in anguish,

battered by emotional pain 

it knows not how to name.

My bones ache from exhaustion, 

my muscles are knotted in tension

shaking and sobbing in rhythm,

learning the cadence of grief.

Selah

I sob for me and all the ones donning gauze,

carrying pain’s lonely load

alongside you on Calvary’s road.

I sob with all the wounded

whose gauze is stained red

because their heart has been crushed.

They lay awake anxious,

staring down the night

wishing for sunshine and daytime.

Their eyelids are heavy

but their minds don’t stop racing

the lanes slippery with tears

on worry’s perilous highway. 

Oh, and here comes the storm!

Steady downpour of tears

flowing forth from my soul.

They gush out from my guts 

like water through an opened dam. 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Selah

Yet I am not crying alone.

You cried with me on Calvary’s mount. 

You showered me with you blood

while crying out to your Father,

“Why did you leave me alone?”

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

You sobbed with me in anguish

as you poured out your blood.

You fixed your gaze on mine;

I saw your tears and you saw mine,

the sacred knowing of all the wounded.

And I hear you faintly whispering 

“I press my wounds against yours.”

Selah

Oh, Jesus, wounded Savior,

teach me to suffer well.

Teach me that my tears

water the seeds of your kingdom

amidst thistles and thorns.

One day, the flowers will bloom! 

Teach me to suffer with hope.

For your wounds were healed into scars

and you no longer wear gauze.

Soon I shall hear you shouting

“I press my scars against yours!” 

Amen