April 15–17, 2022

Poetry

Apr 17

SLEEP DEPRAVED

My eyelids rebel against me. My body refuses to respond.

Shut up, SHUT UP! I think…

But I take captive those thoughts.

I urge myself to selflessness.

I purge myself of selfishness.

The baby is crying, and I am his father.

Swaddle soaking, voices croaking,

“He peed right through,”

But the line isn’t blue?

Delirious, mysterious,

We fumble dumb-fingered through a diaper change.

My sinful brain rages;

My words are vipers seeking prey;

But I bite my tongue.

I urge myself to pay the price.

I purge myself of painful pride.

The baby is screaming, and I am his father.

Then he snuggles against me,

And I know that this is worth it.

Hidden eggs abound.

Check the tree, the bush, the mulch!

Did you find them all?

Peter and John started sprinting,

In the east a new sunrise was glinting,

The tomb was now bare!

Life would now be un-fair,

Now new creatures from sinners He’s minting.