Who Knew Man’s Heart?

Hosanna in excelsis Deo.

There was a time when faith was real,
When it was not itself,
And God did search us, know us then,
When I knew not myself.

And then came introspection’s thoughts,
A mirror to my soul.
Who needs a Chillingworth t’accuse
With scarlet letters’ toll?

בָּרוּך הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָֹה

My self-manipulated heat
Was « mene, mene » call’d:
I call’d for water to my soul,
For righteous gardens wall’d.

I know no more what I did seek,
So, Adam, ask me not.
But wait, I do now: Shepherd’s hands,
Which had my marrow bought.

בָּרוּך הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָֹה

His wine is in my unclean mouth,
A coal to sinful lips,
For « common » is, he says, no more –
No more, these fictive scripts.

And clean’s as holy as he speaks:
« Forget your labour plan:
I have a fatted calf, my son.
So feast, and heed the banns. »

בָּרוּך הַבָּא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָֹה

© 2009 Lue-Yee Tsang