You have parted the seas of pain in my life
Been my fortress in the fires of my suffering
Walked with me
Over the waters of my fear
And through every storm
You have been my covering.
How much more can you do
In these Covid times we are in,
As events continue to unfold.
We have seen it before
And we will see it again
Your goodness, Your victory, retold!
It is so easy, in this current climate, to feel discouraged and full of anxiety as our world has been flipped upside down. My hope is that this poem helps to settle the sorrows and calm the fears through this reminder of who God is. For me, when I fix my eyes on Jesus; on what He has done in my life and throughout history, I am filled with tremendous peace. This peace comes from a place of confidence and trust in who God is. God is abounding in love and faithfulness (psalm 86:15), God is our ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1-3), He is our refuge (Deuteronomy 33:27), victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57) and we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us (Roman 8:37).
And I will love you
With a fragile delicacy
Honouring your vase like heart
I will polish you with words of love
Of mastery, of magic
I will display you on the highest mantle
The pinnacle of my life
For all the world to see
And if there ever comes a time
Where my actions fall short
And my words too clumsy, too brash
I will fill all the cracks in you
With the tenderness you deserve
For there is immeasurable beauty
In your stunning sensitivity
A heart so feeling, so full
And I will love you
With all the gentleness & tenderness
Your heart requires
And I will love you
Until all the seeds in you bloom full
And I will love you
Today
And ever more
I will love you.
Vase Heart came, like many of my poems, from a self-reflective state. The poem grow out of the understanding that I am a sensitive soul and the vase heart in question is essentially mine. When I was younger, at times, I struggled with being sensitive. On those days when I felt my heart was unsuited for this world, I would imagine what it would be like if I were to maintain the same state of perpetual apathy I would see displayed in others. Would it be better if I were this way? Easier? I’d asked myself and, thankfully, the answer has always been no.
To be sensitive, to have the strength to feel the colourful spectrum of emotions that make us alive, that make us human, is a gift. It is so important to stay soft, to stay loving in the midst of the cruelty we are faced with in the world. There is strength in this. There is power in this.
The poetic voice in this poem is the ideal lover for the sensitive soul, a lover who honours and respects your sensitivity and learns to love you through it. It forms as a reminder for those who need it that this love is out there and is worth waiting for.
All in all, this poem is about loving with intention and grace, the way God encourages us to love, the way God loves us.
In silence, I stand
Nipples bared and bowed
To the bravery of the stolen
Of the forgotten voices
Of the raped
Of the tortured
Of those killed in the name of freedom
I bare my body
I surrender this suit
I plaster truth
I carve it into the bones of me
Until the world hears
En Chile torturan violan y matan.
“In Chile they torture, rape and kill.”
The story behind the poem My Body, My Protest, begins with me stumbling into bed at 4:30am, slightly (or not so slightly) intoxicated after a night out dancing. I was doing the habitual scroll through my Instagram timeline when I came across an E! News post detailing the events occurring at the Latin Grammy’s. This is where I first saw Mon Laferte’s political red carpet protest moment, where she completely bares her chest to strategically raise awareness of the grotesque acts of police brutality taking place in Chile right now.
Chile is currently experiencing a season of political unrest as thousands exercise their political right to protest. Protesters are taking to the streets to express their fury at the establishment and are demanding social reforms to address the high levels of inequality the country is experiencing.
Here is a useful link for more details on what is happening/has happened in Chile during the protests:Â Â https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50512093?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c452lzylemmt/chile-protests&link_location=live-reporting-storyÂ
In summary, 22 people have been killed as a result of excessive police force, while thousands have been seriously injured, tortured and/or sexually assaulted. These are absolutely abhorrent acts of injustice and I was profoundly moved by this whole situation, compelling me to write something about it then and there. I deeply admire Mon Laferte for using her platform to raise awareness of the human rights abuses that are happening all over the world. Mon Laferte reminded us all that our bodies are not merely sexual tools, they are powerful vessels – holding, giving and supporting life.
Here Mon Laferte chose to use her body to express a significant message. She utilised the power of the naked female form to highlight our human right to protest, to challenge norms, to shake systems, to change the world.
There will be times you are at your lowest points
When anguish engulfs you and there is nowhere left to run
And the words of our loved ones fall flat, hallow
No one can meet you in this darkness
And the support will seem lack lustre
Will seem disingenuous
Will be flawed
And you retreat within, in solitude
Praying away this poison chalice
This cup of suffering
In a manic display
Until your legs give way and succumb
To the gravity of surrender
And then
Beyond the unrest
Beyond the disquiet of your anxiety
The starring of the still small voice
Overtakes you to reveal
“Beyond this pain
Beyond this bitter suffering
And far beyond what your mind can perceive
Lays a promise, a hope,
A purpose for all that be
Rooted in my immeasurable love
And, oh, how I love you,
Cherished one
One day you will see
The glory and the splendour
Of an eternity with me.”
And as these words leave me
Some things do stay
Like the peace that passeth understanding
To guide me on my way.
It’s not here
The Fear that plagues you
The Love that binds you
The Desire that drives you
It’s not here
The mechanisms of love
The barriers you place around it
The romantic illusions that pollute it
The myths that mask you from the truth
It’s not here
The saving grace
The divine light
Blazing away sorrows history
From your veins, from your veins
It’s not here
In that powdery embrace
A nose full, a mouth full,
a forbidden pharmacy
It’s not here
In that liquid luck
And all the ways you try to orchestrate your own destruction
It’s not here
It’s not here
It’s not here
Look within.
Here’s to us;
Making it this far,
Another year approaching,
Ready for us to take it in our stride
And as we dust down those resolutions,
Reviewing the messes we’ve made,
The triumphs we’ve tasted,
Taking a shot for every disappointment
And dancing in the embers of the past –
We bound forwards,
Revelling in the victory
Of all we’ve overcome.
Nothing compares to this strength,
The courage it take to evolve
And survive the torture of our cocoons.
For now, we emerge.
Glittering and ready
For all this year, this life
Has in store.
Called by the knowing
The inner whisper from
The timeless
To a timezone
Where seconds melt away
And potential burns through
The transition
The disquiet
That follows one passing phase
Into another
With all of life
Brimming and bubbling in the bones of you
Here births the realised dream
The magnetised pull
To the future you
That is already fulfilled
Already the dazzling wonder
You feel so vividly in the distance
One you are with this dream
And all future yous
Living fully
In the present
Welcome to Ruth's Rhapsody 