Sanctimonium

“Oh, all the memories we had,
Framed in our minds like photographs.
Take a second, take a second and make this last,
Here where the future meets the past.
I can never fall in love again.
I can never fall in love again.”

- All The Memories, The Classic Crime

The Oubliette

“I made it for you,”
Said my Soul to the Shadow,
“I’ve hewn it with steel out of stone.
I’ve sipped from the River,
I’ve shattered the Mirror;
I’ve gone far beyond the unknown.

“It’s a prison for you,”
Said my Soul to the Shadow,
“A place to abandon my Past.
You’ve driven my fears
Like you’ve haunted my years,
But I’ve shattered your Empire of glass.

“It’s a place of Abyss,”
Said my Soul to the Shadow,
“A cavern more deep than a well,
Where the Dark is a shroud
And the Silence so loud
That the only worse horror is Hell.

“It’s a dungeon of naught,”
Said my Soul to the Shadow,
“A place for the world to forget
As time passes you by,
As you live and you die
All alone in my own Oubliette.

“Discipleship is a commitment - not of mere weeks or years, but of a lifetime.”

“The teachings of Christ are threatening to the kingdoms of men.”

- Dr. Charles Erlandson

Chain Links, Part 2

A while back I had a post entitled Chain Links, which was based on a chapel presentation at my school. The chain link represented freedom from the bonds of sin, and instead being bound to Christ. Very cool concept, and I’ve worn a chain link on my necklace ever since (one of the chain links they were handing out in chapel).

However, I had an issue with the chain link they had given us: it was weak and thin. It didn’t represent what the speaker said it signified, because chains of bondage are thick and strong - not easily broken. So for some time I’ve been meaning to get a different chain link that better fits the job description. But I never got around to it.

Last night a group of my friend surprised me with a few going-away gifts, and my friend Judah (who knows how to craft metal) made me an amazing chain link. It is thick and made of steel, certainly one heavy-duty chain link.

He also stamped a Latin phrase into it. On one side it reads, Noli Timere, Mitis Sum. On the other, Timere, Quia Potens Sum. The translation reads,

Fear Not, For I Am Gentle.

Fear, For I Am Strong.

This means a lot to me, and I think the phrase describes me. I have a knight’s heart; I know how to be gentle, but if the need arises I am also prepared to be fierce. The Bible describes God as being this way too.

“She doesn’t have much to say about yesterday
Or what happened to her when she was eight,
So she drinks a lot, and it makes her feel okay
For the moment, but it’s gone when she awakes.

And I hope you know that someone out there loves you,
So don’t give yourself away.
And don’t listen to them when they say
‘This is the way that you are.’”

- The Way That You Are, The Classic Crime

The Goodbye She’ll Never Hear

Is written here, beyond her sight,
Concealed within the fading light
Of all that might have come to pass,
If we were truly meant to last.

I miss her dearly, miss her smile
That always seemed to rest awhile
Upon her face, where it remained;
And now upon my heart is stained.

Though all was well, this too has passed -
Shattered like a heart of glass.
What was will never be again;
The setting sun has come to end.

Now time has come for my depart,
With (or with not) my healed heart,
And memories too will fade to black:
I’ve passed the point of turning back.

Farewell sweet love, blame not your deeds
But mine, now rooted up like weeds.
I loved you dearly like the rain,
But drought, it seems, has come again.

Goodbye fair beauty from above;
Goodbye to you and all I loved.
Think not of me; think not of us -
For in the end, all turns to dust.