Tenebrae
Lament of the Wounded
How long, oh Lord, will I walk around wounded?
How long will I don gauze as my garment?
How long will my plea go unanswered?
How long will your face turn away?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
My soul is crying in anguish,
battered by emotional pain
it knows not how to name.
My bones ache from exhaustion,
my muscles are knotted in tension
shaking and sobbing in rhythm,
learning the cadence of grief.
Selah
I sob for me and all the ones donning gauze,
carrying pain’s lonely load
alongside you on Calvary’s road.
I sob with all the wounded
whose gauze is stained red
because their heart has been crushed.
They lay awake anxious,
staring down the night
wishing for sunshine and daytime.
Their eyelids are heavy
but their minds don’t stop racing
the lanes slippery with tears
on worry’s perilous highway.
Oh, and here comes the storm!
Steady downpour of tears
flowing forth from my soul.
They gush out from my guts
like water through an opened dam.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Selah
Yet I am not crying alone.
You cried with me on Calvary’s mount.
You showered me with you blood
while crying out to your Father,
“Why did you leave me alone?”
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
You sobbed with me in anguish
as you poured out your blood.
You fixed your gaze on mine;
I saw your tears and you saw mine,
the sacred knowing of all the wounded.
And I hear you faintly whispering
“I press my wounds against yours.”
Selah
Oh, Jesus, wounded Savior,
teach me to suffer well.
Teach me that my tears
water the seeds of your kingdom
amidst thistles and thorns.
One day, the flowers will bloom!
Teach me to suffer with hope.
For your wounds were healed into scars
and you no longer wear gauze.
Soon I shall hear you shouting
“I press my scars against yours!”
Amen