The Beauty of the Ashes – A Poem for Ash Wednesday
For the beauty of the Ashes,
For the glory they once revealed,
In these no words could ever capture,
God’s highest work in me He sealed.
For the beauty of the love that fills the world,
Even though in anguish with devils filled,
Let not my heart ere be defeated,
For all is thus, as God has willed.
For the beauty of Creation,
That sings a hymn of love so free,
May it join my heart as it proclaims,
This song of love, all for Thee
Because your beauty hung on a tree,
I sing of Thy goodness, and I sing of Thy sorrow,
For all You suffered, and for all I can see,
What ere befalls, I shall sing of the ‘morrow.
The ‘morrow when all is at last fulfilled,
No more by faith, but Thy face I will see,
So, give me today upon my brow,
The beauty of the Ashes, to be seen in me.
Brad Riley