Sweep And Be Merry

A poem about living a more authentic life and the facades well a put up.

Sweep And Be Merry 

a poem by Chris T.

Sweep and be merry you keepers of clean.

Arranging your diorama into the perfect scene.
Scrub and scrub the table and countertop.

Making sure to erase the grime,the crumbs and the slop.

For tonight the neighbors come to partake in a meal,

And we can’t allow a true glimpse or reveal.

Of a millimeter below the glimmering patina.

Hiding the sweat and the breath tinged with the taste of tequila

We all work so hard to push far, far down.

Our colors of pain and a quick flash of frown.

 So we jam pack our lives with a beautiful visage,

And adorning our person with many accoutrements

Why do we spring upon a man of truth?

A man not afraid of the mistakes of youth.

A soul who lives beyond the surface of lies

A man whose concern is for family, its bonds and it’s ties.

So sweep and be merry you vacuous corpse.

You ten pounds of guile crammed in a 5 pound bag of remorse.

So, continue to polish and polish that festering t**d.

Losing your soul in a farce so absurd.

Author's Note

This morning I awoke early before the rest of my family arose. I faithfully emptied yesterday’s coffee grains from the filter. I proceeded to fill up the carafe with the specially filtered water from the refrigerator; taking a whole 5 minutes to fill to the top. Then, I reached for the bag of my Mocha Java blend and Whoosh, my hand-made no purchase. Dang, we are out of coffee beans. So, that just will not stand in the household of mine. Naturally, I set out in the gentle rain to Caribou Coffee. As I was driving, I was thinking of my nono(grandpa in Italiano). He used to say some of the funniest things. One of the phrases that I heard all the time was: “You can polish a turd, but it’s still just a turd.” I apologize for using such a crude term but, you had to know my grandpa.He suffered from mental illness and random bouts of brilliance as well.As that statement was tumbling around in my mind, I had an idea for a poem about how we shine the illustrious patina of our facade while the inside of our souls are decaying, slowly losing the spark of hope, being extinguished forever. The bible says in the book of Mark Chapter 8 verse 36: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” If you are a striver of material things, if you constantly reach for the brass ring, stop and focus on the real problem in your life: sin and a desire to strive in your own power and the mounting rebellion our hearts are prone to do. You can’t put a beautiful varnish on top of rotten wood. God wants to make you shine from the inside out. That is true beauty and when God does something he starts out with a perfect foundation(the forgiveness of sins thanks to His Son and the unwavering belief in Jesus’ deity) and builds every thing else on top of that marvelous truth. Don’t be afraid of living an authentic life, not living in crippling fear of what others think of you and accepting a calling that will transform your decaying heart into a treasure more valued than diamonds, silver and gold.

As always, feel free to comment, subscribe, re-post, relive, return to Him and tell others about what you have learned here today.

The Great Plains Poet, a non-hoodwinked realizer of his brokenness and a true example of the redemptive qualities of serving a risen Savior.

Reviews

[*~*Butterfly Kisses*~*]

Nicely done -- but one thing I noticed is you start it off and end it with a rhyming scheme except for the end of the middle 3rd stanza. It kind of took away from the flow of the piece at that certain point.. But other than that, I understood the message and for the most part it was very well written. Great write.

[Kat Collins]

So aptly put, my friend. How often do we spit-shine the cover, but it's not reality as to what's inside? It's like biting into an shiney, red apple and then spitting it out, realizing the inside is rotten and turning brown. This reminded me of the Pharisees with their rules and regulations to try and have the 'appearance' of Godliness, when in truth they were worse than the humble beggar on the street corner. You're nono sounds like a man worth knowing...

[sivan]

good work. like this line "You ten pounds of guile crammed in a 5 pound bag of remorse."

[HeIsWe]

This is really good, I love it.

[Jeremy Baker]

I like the anecdote about your grandfather, very warm and nostalgic. Good write!

[Coyote Poetry]

I like how you make your point. Better to be honest and live a good life. Most of us will test life. If we are lucky. Because kinder and wiser.
" So we jam pack our lives with a beautiful visage,
And adorning our person with many accoutrements"
Many people create castles and tale to protect them from real life. In the end we will take nothing but the good and bad deeds of a life to the master. Thank you for your amazing poetry. Always can make me think.
Coyote

[Dove]

Very nice write. The flow was great and the words you chose to rhyme... excellant. Keep it up!!