Redemption

Cheap perfume masking scent of cheaper men,
Towards my redemption, I approach,
Braving hypocrisy’s white-washed den,
Its scorn and lust curdle as reproach,
I enter, eyes of flint cut judgement’s mark,
But I kneel down and set upon my task,
Of adoration, though Pharisees bark,
And snicker, at the blessings from my flask.
He defends me, the first to take that strain
In my whole life, gives love’s redeeming gaze,
Over lifelong landscape of shame and pain,
Wiping out tears of despairing days.
I go away, accepted by my Lord,
While others stay, and reap their own reward.

Print