Naked in the Light

My soul stripped bare,

I’m standing there

Naked in the light.

Only a song

Echoes the wrong

Of what I planned for right.

I’m standing naked in the light

Nothing can I hide

Every wrong I ever did

Every lie I lied

Are now exposed

And heaven knows

The love I crucified.

How could it be

I did not see

The danger in the lurch?

No help I find

For heart or mind

From State or from the Church.

Now powerless

I only guess

At how the wind will blow

And sweep away

The words I say—

To where I do not know.

More drastic still

My strength of will

Has gone as I had feared.

With no control

Of flesh or soul

Will, too, has disappeared.

And worse of all,

As with the “Fall,”

A chasm has been cast

That separates

Where love awaits

The first one from the last.

My soul stripped bare,

I’m standing there

Naked in the light.

Only a song

Echoes the wrong

Of what I planned for right.

I’m standing naked in the light

Nothing can I hide

Every wrong I ever did

Every lie I lied

Are now exposed

And heaven knows

The love I crucified

©Stan Sanford

March 1, 2002