Poetry for Lent III: Malcolm Guite

Jesus Cleansing the Temple
El Greco - 1568
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Cleansing the Temple

Come to your Temple here with liberation
And overturn these tables of exchange,
Restore in me my lost imagination,
Begin in me for good the pure change.
Come as you came, an infant with your mother,
That innocence may cleanse and claim this ground.
Come as you came, a boy who sought his father,
With questions asked and certain answers found.
Come as you came, this day, a man in anger,
Unleash the lash that drives a pathway through,
Face down for me the fear, the shame, the danger,
Teach me again to whom my love is due.
Break down in me the barricades of death
And tear the veil in two with your last breath.

-- Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons

Hear Mr. Guite reading this poem aloud HERE.