A Missionary's Song


Dust and dirt 
Adorned with the light
The slight blue sky 
And the gift of poor sight 

The abandoned village 
In fall sunlight 
Becomes a masterpiece 
Of towering height 

Festooned in trash 
By the ignorant hand 
Reflecting the attitude 
Of life without plan 

Day by day
Passing in dust 
We scorn the poor 
And betray their trust 

Their hunger returns 
With an invisible hand 
Our intellect burns 
To try and understand 

How to turn them away 
From this cycle of waste 
That we taught them 
By our consumerist taste? 

We blame education 
And a broken down home 
Porn, masturbation 
leaves them alone 

The truth of the matter 
Is that we broke their tribe 
They lived in the mountains 
Without time or scribe 

They were happy before 
Hunting, fishing and farming 
Naked, without shame 
“Progress” ended up harming 

Our cheap imitations 
Of beauty and life 
Have robbed millions of boys 
Of future children and wife 

Now pour out their time 
Into offices and plants 
The evidence of crime 
Drained in anime romance 

I came to teach you 
But now you teach me 
That what you had 
Was originally more free

A life close to nature
Close to family and self
Lived with your children
Your only wealth 

Now we both abandon
And live in concrete
Boring, not random
All food is too sweet

The feeling of empty
You blame on the West
But we both now are angry
We both failed the test
 
The law brought death
And death brought power
And only by grace
Can our friendship flower

The Gospel must 
Change both of us 
In order to regain 
Our lost trust

So we can hear 
Holiness and sin 
Quench the fear
That rots us within 

We are both lost
And no one can save
Without the Cross
And the watery grave

The law brought death
And death brought power
And only by blood
Can our lives re-flower

In Him Heaven and Earth
The East and the West
Are brothers in rebirth 
And no longer a guest

Dust and dirt 
Adorned with the light 
The slight blue sky 
And the gift of poor sight 

The abandoned village 
In fall sunlight
Becomes a masterpiece 
Of towering height

+++

Bp. Joseph Boyd

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