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Poem: Autumn

"Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;

You have established the heavenly lights and the sun.

You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; 

You have made summer and winter."

- Psalm 74:16-17

Autumn (Psalm 74:16-17)

By: Quina

Autumn comes

and I

     think

          I’m

               falling.

My

shadow stretches

depravity stalks me

groaning until this

Fall is lifted

and as I

through long nights

wait

I am struggling

wanting to take flight

away

from this chill

feeling I’m

dry and dying

but I

            can’t ignore these colors all around me

            orange, yellow, brown, red

            dead leaves

            remind me

            of Your determination of grace:

            the beautification of my mortification.

            Daily dying is not in vain.

And I know

Winter’s freeze has lost its sting

from its clutch I will thus Spring

to even brighter beams

of light and color

but

Autumn is when

You prepare me.

Creative Response: Cosmic Love

Original song: "Cosmic Love" by Florence and the Machine

Creative Response: "The Light They So Despise (Cosmic Love)" by Quina

Commentary: I did a rough draft recording of this piece as spoken word mixed with a remix of "Cosmic Love" on my computer, but I don't know how to upload it on here. Oh well. 

The purpose of this creative response wasn't so much to challenge what the original song's lyrics are communicating. Instead, I took the themes of light/darkness, vision/eyes, the heart, and living to contrast the blinding, deadening effect of the heart's depravity with the coming of the Light and the Life, Christ. From Him the majority of humanity hid, and hides, because of the darkness of our own hearts, the evil of our deeds. We even go so far as to demand further proof for the existence of God and the deity of Jesus. But this is like asking for proof that the sun is out when it is midday. Christ rightly said, “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20). The prayer of my poem is that God, who alone can shine “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Corinthians 4:6), would so shine in the dark shadows of unbelieving hearts.

"Cosmic Love"
by Florence and the Machine

A falling star fell from your heartAnd landed in my eyesI screamed aloud, as it tore through themAnd now it's left me blind
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown outYou left me in the darkNo dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilightIn the shadow of your heart
And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeatI tried to find the soundBut then it stopped and I was in the darknessSo darkness I became
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown outYou left me in the darkNo dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilightIn the shadow of your heart
I took the stars from my eyes and then I made a mapAnd knew that somehow I could find my way backThen I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness tooSo I stayed in the darkness with you
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown outYou left me in the darkNo dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilightIn the shadow of your heart
The stars, the moon, they have all been blown outYou left me in the darkNo dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilightIn the shadow of your heart


"The Light They So Despise (Cosmic Love)" 
by Quina

Prove the sun is out?

Need you such obvious testimony?

When it is shining in all its beauty?

Do you not see golden beams?

Shadows cast by trees?

Do you not feel the heat?

How do you believe you are living, breathing?

As it were, we

            have eyes, but do not see

            ears, but cannot hear

            lungs, but cannot breathe

            we dwell in the shadow

            of our cold hearts, dark

            alive, but not living

            alive, but not living

He needs no proof, the light

but humbly He set upon this twilight

and it tried, with violent screams,

but could not overcome

His cosmic love, bright beams

when He rose, rose in three

glorious, undeniably bright beams

Oh, rise in their hearts

that they might

step into the light they so despise,

the light they so despise

"Sanctification is worth all the pain on earth." 

- Gina's Poetical Books Professor

"...but when God comes with afflictions to the men or women who have studied their own hearts, they can say,'I would not have been without this affliction for anything in the world. God has so suited this affliction to my condition, and has come in such a way that if this affliction had not come I am afraid I should have fallen into sin.'"

- (saw this on Rachel's Facebook)