What We Have Lost
We have received from the Lord a storehouse of treasures.
His first gift was to make us feel a godly sorrow:
We found out our wickedness and yearned to be holy,
Then laid claim to grace and salvation ever precious.
Absolution followed, the purest of all blessings,
Which frees us from attempting impossible penance.
And yet we girded our hearts to live lives of penance--
To atone for our thefts by sharing heaven’s treasures,
And mitigate our misdeeds by now bringing blessings.
We now offer the world joy, where once we brought sorrow,
Teaching sinners that not gold, but God’s love is precious,
And the greatest conquest is making oneself holy.
Has it helped? Doubtless it is better to be holy
Than to be as we were. But no amount of penance
Can undo the wrongs we wrought. God’s mercy is precious,
But it would be better that we never stole treasures
Or took lives. There is no remedy for death’s sorrow,
Nor care the grieving if we mutter prayers and blessings.
This year’s fruitful harvest brings a bounty of blessings.
But what of the last? The crops we burned, and the holy
And honest folk to whom we brought famine and sorrow?
The wounds we dealt cannot be healed by any penance,
Nor dead babes unstarved when we now choose to share treasures.
It comes too late. Too late we have learned what is precious.
What we lost most was time, and time is most precious.
Though we are saved now, we have missed years’ worth of blessings!
Each day of believing, rejoicing in God’s treasures,
Is outweighed by the years when we scorned what is holy.
Though forgiven, the past remains. It spites our penance,
And asks “What might have been?” For what is lost, we sorrow.
We speak to the future, out of our present sorrow:
Do not make the mistake we made. Seize what is precious.
The errors you make will not be set right by penance.
Repent at once. Let God fill these your years with blessings.
Cherish each other, and honor He who is holy.
Grace and joy, love and peace, are the only real treasures.
Time is precious. To waste it is the greatest sorrow.
Moments are blessings. Spend them as your chiefest treasures.
There’s no need for penance when we make each day holy.