The verdict is in, the judgment spoken

For hearing ears and seeing eyes:

Donning chains unbroken I exchanged

The Eden Garden for a dungeon of ease.

 

Blinded by the darkness of ephemeral green

I see no pain, understand no sorrow.

As if in Plato’s cave I know only shadows,

Dancing figures of health and liberty.

 

Do you see the poor, the lost, the homeless?

The orphaned, widowed, impoverished, broken?

The helpless, abused, outcast, worthless?

The despised, rejected, and countless unspoken?

Neither do I.

 

With this grim state I’ve only one hope:

The Light of the world who took my lot,

Discovered my sorrow and revealed my pain.

Only then can I see need as I ought.

 

Let the Light of Christ’s suffering expose

Our deepest need, and every need besides.

See Him, then us, then, and only then,

With compassion see them.

 

Follow this threefold order with great care

Or we may never see, and thus never love

Those who hurt and abound as the air.

God’s be the glory, whose grace from above,

Opens our ears and eyes and hearts and minds

To see and love sufferers of every kind.