Poem: “Raging Crimson Waterfall”
Raging Crimson Waterfall
Oh this twisting red river that saturates me
Catapults me down in a mire of grime
To sordid places I do not aspire to go
Yet set out to so willingly
Each time I want to do good
My corrupted blood denies me[i]
How wretched I am
Who will rescue me?[ii]
My sight is obscured
And my hearing too
Like the quandary of a mole
In the gloomy subterranean void
The wages of sin are death[iii]
Transgression is in my blood
My blood is consumed by malevolence
Iniquity courses throughout my veins
Like a raging crimson waterfall
Emanating from an invisible potent spring
Pain and agony is the indispensable sieve
That prepares my blood for its bathing
For it is only through the shedding of my blood
But first the Blood[iv] of the Unblemished Lamb[v]
That my sins that be as scarlet
Might without vestige become white as snow[vi]
O truly necessary sin of Adam
O happy fault that earned so great,
So glorious a Redeemer![vii]
Who gushes forth the blood cleansing crystal-clear river
Nourishing the Tree of Life
With revitalizing fruit and leaves for my cure[viii]
[i] See Romans 7:21-22
[ii] See Romans 7:24
[iii] See Romans 6:23
[iv] See Hebrews 9:23
[v] See 1Peter 1:19
[vi] See Isaiah 1:18
[vii] Roman Missal
[viii] See Revelation 22:1-2
James Littleton
May 30, 2012
