I tried reciting some of my poems to get into character for an audition last week (the first audition I’ve ever attempted in my life), and ended up writing a new poem. Here it is:

Can you?

Can you take a man from heaven,
Throw him down to earth,
And expect him to be grateful
For a squalid pauper’s birth?

Can you take the Son of Glory,
Mar and smear his face,
And expect him still to treasure
Our decrepit human race?

Can you take the source of Wisdom,
Mock his words and sneer,
And expect him still to tell you
All the things you need to hear?

Can you take a loving teacher,
Desert him to his death,
And expect him to forgive and more
With his last painful breath?

Can you take a mangled body,
Broken, pierced, sealed;
And expect him to become the One
Through whom we all are healed?

Can you take a band of cowards,
Despised, abandoned, lost;
And expect them to transform the world
No matter what the cost?

Can you?