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States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'The old rugged cross' by Kerry Reed-Gilbert

by
States of Poetry ACT - Series Two

States of Poetry 2017 - ACT | 'The old rugged cross' by Kerry Reed-Gilbert

by
States of Poetry ACT - Series Two

The old rugged cross

When the spirit has been broken
and there’s no place to go
When you look around the world
wondering what went wrong
When your heart is shattered and
torn no patch ever big enough to help it mend.
No bandaid to help it heal.

When tears roll down your face

cascading like a roaring river
When the spirit has been broken
and there’s no place to go
you wonder what went wrong
to make your life too much to bear

They say a person is only given
in one lifetime what they can endure
That the will to live and the spirit will get stronger

The old rugged cross sits high on my shoulders
I feel my hands nailed blood oozing
I feel tarred and feathered
Tattered and torn
When the spirit has been broken
and there’s no place to go.

I want the world to stop and let me off.

Kerry Reed-Gilbert

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