I wrote this as we approached Lent in the Orthodox Christian calendar. It’s about the idea of the last judgment.
What Will We Bring?
What will we bring on that bright and burning day
When all we nestled near and dearly kept
IN careful concealment, hidden in our hearts
Is bared to all, beyond the bounds of shame or praise?
What will we bring when brought before the living lamp of love
Which will not leave the tinyest truth untold,
Nor let the dross remain amid the gold, beyond all greed,
Of humility and selflessness He seeks?
Will we be rooted deep and hanging heavy with fruit,
Or will we wither at His gaze because we were never nourished?
Will we be as the wanderer welcomed home,
Or will what seems a palace to some
To us be only wilderness and want?
We will come there at last, when life is left behind,
And therefore must begin to learn the ways
Of this green and living land which only seems a foreign shore
To those who have been too long estranged
From the place where time may touch eternity.
Yet in that strange and secret meeting may be glimpsed a narrow track,
A steep yet steady path to paradise
For the one who seeks to travel it in trust,
journeying in faith toward the fullness of joy.
Deo gloria! Deo gratias!
Until Eternity Is Now! 