My apologies to those who like poetry

My apologies to those who like poetry. This was ‘inspired’ by a number of things I’ve heard over the years and prompted by something else.

THE LIFEGUARD

1.         The day had seemed to start quite well,
The ‘sea of life’ a gentle swell.
When all at once I felt a change,
The world around was growing strange.

2.         I felt a ‘rip-tide’ drag me down,
I felt myself begin to drown.
Fear rose, a tide within my breast,
A band of panic round my chest.

3.         I struggled in the waves alone,
I searched around, all help had flown.
And then a voice came, close at hand,
“To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”

4.         “You need not shout, but only wave,
He looks for whom he needs to save,
He watches closely sea and sand.
To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”

5.         “For some, it is the grip of sin,
That threatens, like the circling fin
of ‘Great White’ shark, whose mouth of death,
Can take away your very breath.”

6.         “For others, it’s the weight of life’s
pains, thorns and thistles, griefs and strife,
That drags them far away from land.
To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”

7.         My hand went up, and lo, HE SAW!
My hand went up, I did no more.
He ran across the far-off beach,
He ran, this drowning soul to reach.

8.         But all of this was lost to me,
As I was drifting out to sea,
By death’s dread terrors quite unman’d
All I could do was raise my hand.

9.         And then I heard a voice draw near,
Me, overwhelmed by waves of fear,
He, strong to bring me back to land,
Said, “Mate, looks like you need a hand.”

10.       My fear for what lay underneath,
Began to give way to relief,
For where I had imagined harms,
I found were everlasting arms.

11.       When Jordan’s verge I someday tread,
These words I’ll hear inside my head,
“If you would see the Promised Land,
To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”

12..      So if you see my hand go up,
Don’t hand to me the water cup,
Or fetch the bedpan, next of kin —
These cannot save me from my sin.

13.       And do not think that I am calm,
That’s not why I lift up my arm!
It’s just this thing (you’ll understand),
“To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”

13.       For he’ll be looking for that wave,
That says, “Saviour, come now to save,”
My anxious fears he’ll bid subside,
He’ll land me safe on Canaan’s side.

14.       The lifeguard, who himself once died,
Who sank under death’s awful tide,
Knows how it feels to be so weak,
You cannot pray, you cannot speak.

15.       He asks only we trust in him,
And not ourselves, to draw us in,
To land us safely on the sand,
“To call the lifeguard, raise your hand.”




(PS: In case you’re wondering, I’m OK.)

Comments are closed. Recommend: