Lent's not for Rent....or oh well, I tried!

Fat Tuesday comes
It’s Mardis Gras
Festooned in masquarade
I love the beat
I feel the pulse
For me this night was made
My heart is open
Full, alive
Leans into revelry
The yellow, purple, green of kings
Was surely meant for me!

Night will turn to morning,
but me, I will not rent
the Lenten call
to “thorny crown”
withdrawal
and lament.

My feathered mask
I’ll have to leave
upon the closet floor;
in two-step waltz
I’ll exit from
that cracked, half-opened door.

With steps of not-quite-certainty
I’ll have to yes, proclaim
post-revelry rebellion
I’ll not erase my name

Nor suffer loss
With no intent
Except to suffer loss
Instead I’ll bring my instrument
Of listening to the cross

The ways in which we do not mean
But nonetheless succeed
In stealing one another’s love
Because of our own greed

I’ll notice how I give away
The nurture that is mine
Look outward for a clear display
That my love is divine

Or how I hurt the other one
Who travels on my way
How I will turn toward my own route
To keep myself away

I want to choose
to stay beside
my kindred and my kin
to see the one I dis as “you”
is also me within.

It’s not so different
I don’t think
Fat Tuesday and today
We’re called to sip
Each other’s brew
And not to throw away
The inner eye
The soul divine
We know we each are one
Conundrum, yes
But oh so true
Thank God this poem’s done!