![]() Sackcloth and CowlA Poem by David Plantinga![]() Job answers.![]() Have I wronged you, my former friends, Or murdered a dear wife or child, That bitter hatred goes so wild Against the wretch it reprehends. Your opened jaws are like a cowl That fastens on my skull and gnaws. You injure me more than cruel laws Have ever punished the most foul. Your living children prosper, sons Have fathered sons, an added share Of blessings, more than wheedling prayer Importuned in its orisons. Not even multiplied, but squared, Your health, and wealth, and progeny Can’t give one fraction of the glee Sucked from how badly I have fared. My suffering will not suffice And so to sweeten your sick joy You mock the soul these plagues destroy. To you my hell is paradise. I wear this sackcloth as a shirt But your abhorrent discipline Would stitch the mantle on like skin And take your pleasure in my hurt. No needle boring through my hide Could hurt as much as how you pour Gall on a bleeding, open sore, Or how you smirk when you deride. To you, my agony is bliss And your enjoyment of my grief Keelhauls my tatters on a reef, Friends who accuse by a false kiss. I may deserve the punishment The Lord has sent to chastise me, But there’s no crime, no perfidy Merits your passion to torment.
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Added on September 5, 2022 Last Updated on September 5, 2022 Tags: #Job, #Old Testament, #theodicy Author![]() David PlantingaPittsburgh, PAAboutFor shorter poems I'm experimenting with ballad and In Memoriam stanzas. more..Writing
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