Sweep And Be Merry

A poem about living a more authentic life and the facades well a put up.

Sweep And Be Merry 

a poem by Chris T.

Sweep and be merry you keepers of clean.

Arranging your diorama into the perfect scene.
Scrub and scrub the table and countertop.

Making sure to erase the grime,the crumbs and the slop.

For tonight the neighbors come to partake in a meal,

And we can’t allow a true glimpse or reveal.

Of a millimeter below the glimmering patina.

Hiding the sweat and the breath tinged with the taste of tequila

We all work so hard to push far, far down.

Our colors of pain and a quick flash of frown.

 So we jam pack our lives with a beautiful visage,

And adorning our person with many accoutrements

Why do we spring upon a man of truth?

A man not afraid of the mistakes of youth.

A soul who lives beyond the surface of lies

A man whose concern is for family, its bonds and it’s ties.

So sweep and be merry you vacuous corpse.

You ten pounds of guile crammed in a 5 pound bag of remorse.

So, continue to polish and polish that festering t**d.

Losing your soul in a farce so absurd.

Author's Note

This morning I awoke early before the rest of my family arose. I faithfully emptied yesterday’s coffee grains from the filter. I proceeded to fill up the carafe with the specially filtered water from the refrigerator; taking a whole 5 minutes to fill to the top. Then, I reached for the bag of my Mocha Java blend and Whoosh, my hand-made no purchase. Dang, we are out of coffee beans. So, that just will not stand in the household of mine. Naturally, I set out in the gentle rain to Caribou Coffee. As I was driving, I was thinking of my nono(grandpa in Italiano). He used to say some of the funniest things. One of the phrases that I heard all the time was: “You can polish a turd, but it’s still just a turd.” I apologize for using such a crude term but, you had to know my grandpa.He suffered from mental illness and random bouts of brilliance as well.As that statement was tumbling around in my mind, I had an idea for a poem about how we shine the illustrious patina of our facade while the inside of our souls are decaying, slowly losing the spark of hope, being extinguished forever. The bible says in the book of Mark Chapter 8 verse 36: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” If you are a striver of material things, if you constantly reach for the brass ring, stop and focus on the real problem in your life: sin and a desire to strive in your own power and the mounting rebellion our hearts are prone to do. You can’t put a beautiful varnish on top of rotten wood. God wants to make you shine from the inside out. That is true beauty and when God does something he starts out with a perfect foundation(the forgiveness of sins thanks to His Son and the unwavering belief in Jesus’ deity) and builds every thing else on top of that marvelous truth. Don’t be afraid of living an authentic life, not living in crippling fear of what others think of you and accepting a calling that will transform your decaying heart into a treasure more valued than diamonds, silver and gold.

As always, feel free to comment, subscribe, re-post, relive, return to Him and tell others about what you have learned here today.

The Great Plains Poet, a non-hoodwinked realizer of his brokenness and a true example of the redemptive qualities of serving a risen Savior.

Reviews

[*~*Butterfly Kisses*~*]

Nicely done -- but one thing I noticed is you start it off and end it with a rhyming scheme except for the end of the middle 3rd stanza. It kind of took away from the flow of the piece at that certain point.. But other than that, I understood the message and for the most part it was very well written. Great write.

[Victoria PoetryBunny]

Really nice poem, with a nice and true meaning. As well as a really nice and touching author's note. Thanks for sharing.

[Daytonight]

I enjoyed this one! Keep on penning.

[Cherrie Palmer]

a good lesson laced in humor

[Broken Melody]

That last stanza made me laugh so hard. The whole t**d thing for some reason is hilarious to me. I have to agree with that one girl that the thrid stanza throws ya off your reading groove. but other than that its a great write.

[Amila Jay]

Super write:)

[Star Wolf]

There's nothing like telling it like it is. There are words of wisdom here for those who are willing to listen and learn. Awesome poem!

[Wolf's Dark Song]

Sometimes you just can't change the reality of things, no matter how hard you try. A wonderful and thought provoking poem, for sure.

[LiberScriptus]

Another great poem! I think you express here a feeling everyone can relate to- the simultaneous desire to present a fake facade to the rest of the world and repulsion toward inauthenticity. The couplets and rhythm in the words makes it sound almost like a parody of a nursery rhyme, which I think makes it sound very witty, contrasting the sometimes heavy feelings that can go along with this kind of subject matter. I think if you polished the rhythm a little more and made the lines more uniform in length, it would be even better.

[masqued_muse]

Haha.... I won't apologize. You make me want to get up and dance around this ole dreary room! He "joys over you"....and He certainly is smiling....in that, devil-may-care way of His. The poem is awesome, but the TESTIMONY? priceless. "Oh taste and see; that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."
"Only those that have been rescued from such valleys, can rejoice so completely on the mountaintops."
masqued_muse^^

[Sleepless]

again a wonderful poem that i got to read !:)