Deliverance

The mask is stripped away,

A pale face is revealed,

No longer hidden,

The sun kisses the pearly brow.

The façade leaves,

Crushing Jerichoan walls with it,

Leaving a face vulnerable.

The eyes look at a world unseen and unseeing,

Apprehensively, the figure looks at itself in glass. 

The image in foggy and distorted,

Despair, Deception, and Destroyer consume her consciousness

Like a lion devouring its prey. 

Unloved and unwanted she becomes lacerated by her tormentors

There is no hope,

She must conform or die. 

She bends over to secure once again the mask. 

Then a Man appears in the mist of the image,

Homely, and no way comely,

But there is a tenderness that envelopes him like a robe.

His fragrance fills the air with the joy of spring.

His felicity is contagious

His scarred wrist touches the forlorn image,

All at once the chains cascade down the figure’s arms.

Totally free and full of liberty.

She can sing, she can dance, she can live,

She runs along the cobblestone streets

Without looking back

She returns to the mirror

Wondering how her new complexion is perceived,

Doubts assail her

Like a hurricane they engulf her.

Her old tormentors ready to imprison her.

Then He appears in her chains

Lacerated and beaten

Taking her punishment

An anguished cry escapes her throat,

She clutches the lifeless body, her only hope.

Then a warm hand grazes her long hair.

She turns and finds Him there.

Scarred from head to toe, in no way comely,

She accepts His offered hand.

She finds herself in a meadow abloom with wildflowers,

Bright, welcoming, the birds chirp,

Loved and wanted, nothing could make her stray

Not even the mask from per past.