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Show Me A Saint

Show me a "Saint," I'll show you a sinner,

Whose moral restraint keeps, "Sinner," inner,

Show me an "Angel," I'll show you the Fallen,

Whose " Inner," made, "Outer," abandon their calling.

 

Show me a, "King," I'll show you a, "Wretch,"

With pleading hand weakly, meekly outstretched,

Show me a "Martyr," I'll show you a "Fool,"

That was schooled by rules as a sinners tool.

 

Show me a mirror, ah now there's the truth,

The cracks of the aging, blemish the youth,

The lines are the signs of strife, sure enough,

But the eyes unaccepting of bullshit and bluff.

 

Show me a man who accepts, intact,

The face that looks back from the looking glass,

See's the sinner, the Saint, all angels that fall,

And with a smile embraces them all.

 

Show me a man unafraid of reflection,

Show me a man who accepts no deception,

A man who will let no vanities pass,

But see's his true self in the looking glass.

🌷(9)

◄ Yin & Yang

Absorbing The Day ►

Comments

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Heart of Lead

Sat 23rd Feb 2019 03:16

Ah, I am ever and always a sucker for the rhyming poem. Very well done. I can feel the pulsing rhythm of a heartbeat searching for truth. I love your poetry for the depth I think we all connect to and seek out.

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Dave Caplan

Sat 23rd Feb 2019 01:18

Well put Jason.
We can't be all things to all people, and of course vanity is a human condition, which we quite often re-label as self-respect.

Frances Macaulay Forde

Sat 23rd Feb 2019 00:56

Very clever, again, Jason.
Your natural rhymes flow like liquid honey.
I particularly like the 3rd and last stanzas.

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Jason Bayliss

Sat 23rd Feb 2019 00:19

True, it's always made me smile how the person you see in the mirror is of course the opposite, (a mirror image) of what everyone else sees. I tried to reference that in the lines, "Unafraid of reflection," (His actual reflection and thoughtful reflection) and, "Accepts no deception," (seeing through the illusion of actual reflection by using thoughtful reflection).
I was trying to say that even though he knows that even this image is a kind of deception (mirror image), that he still sees his, "True self," i.e. his genuine qualities within that mirror image.
I might have been a bit too oblique with that reference.
Sorry.?

J.

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M.C. Newberry

Fri 22nd Feb 2019 23:06

I'm reminded of the Sinatra ballad "Man In The Looking Glass" - no
bad thing in my terms of reference. But the reflected image isn't
what others see - which provides added interesting thoughts on the
message so adroitly put in these lines.

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Jason Bayliss

Fri 22nd Feb 2019 22:05

Thank you both so much, I really appreciate your comments ❤

J. x

<Deleted User> (21487)

Fri 22nd Feb 2019 12:45

"with pleading hand, weakly, meekly outstretched"
What a good line.

"show me a 'Martyr,' I'll show you a fool,"

"The cracks of the ageing blemish the youth"

there is so much depth to this poem and it demands to be read over and over.

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Mae Foreman

Fri 22nd Feb 2019 11:46

Yes please do show us that man! Excellent! To quote a friend's words "I do love your poetry!" One of my favorites ?
Thank you?
Mae

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