A Dialogue...

THE VOICE OF THIS WORLD:
“Your shadow below is a cold, bitter sight,
Even he leaves you alone in the night.
No one you can hold; No one who can hear;
And people just haunt you, they never stay near.
Nothing lasts, and all shades turn to gray,
The sun always sets and the night turns to day.
Relationships may come but most of them go.
You won’t find love, you fool, don’t you know?
Haven’t you learned from the years of your youth?
The number of steps in your past has been two.
You can’t get it right! You’re destined to fail!
So how does it feel in solitude’s jail?
Are you going to cry with life's wind in your face?
Your tears will just dry and your cries will erase.
No one will listen in this masquerade.
Your countenance will fall and your vibrance will fade.
Yes, you’ll be alone 'til the last grain of sand,
And you’ll go to death's grave a weak little man.”

THE VOICE WITHIN:
“God, like a shadow, has stood by my side.
He never has left me, though leaving, I tried.
To Him do I hold and I know He can hear,
The haunts of my mind and the shed of my tear.
True, this world will pass, but pass not, will the fame,
And the glory of Christ; they will shine like the day.
Nothing is lost when you’ve gained what I know,
That love came to find me and rescue my soul.
Now the traces of pain from the years of my youth,
Have all given way to the Light and the Truth.
Truth that God is my right and God cannot fail.
My sin was a prison, but Christ paid my bail.
And though I may cry in this blowing of grace,
My tears, He will dry and my cries, He’ll erase.
Despite all mal-effort and despite all sin’s raid,
My life, a great telling of God’s glory displayed.
I’ll be one with Christ at the last grain of sand,
Having gone to earth’s grave a weak, little man.

And the lies of this life will be but ablaze,
In the light of God’s glory, God’s honor, and praise.”

Carson Joyner / 1997-2002 / Written at two different periods in my life.