The sacrifice of God

The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit:
a broken and contrite heart you will not despise.


My bones in his hand were light
When he broke them
And in his hands my heart
Leaped for fright and alarm
At life's constriction ...
But he assayed my resolve
Tested my metal by fire
To see if I would run then dissolve
Or stand firm in form, go higher,
The God-shaped part
Rest unharmed.

And he put me in others' hands
The spit and polish of them
The sin, the dirt, the abrasion
To see how I would wear
How I would wage his war
If I could still stand.

He looked into my eyes
Saw all truth there
He did not despise.
My broken and contrite heart displayed
The sadness and the sacrifice
He asked of me
And that I gave
My spirit broken and re-made
The foul made fair
A circle joined and sized
A life explained, assayed,
That fell only to rise
And know his peace and grace.