Wordsworth wrote an endless poem in blank verse on” the growth of a poet’s mind.” I shall attempt a more modest feat for a more distracted age: a blog, “Things which a Lifetime of Trying to Be a Poet has Taught Me.”
Saul’s conversion experience on the Road to Damascus hanged him from a persecutor of the Christian church to its greatest missionary; it changed him from Saul the Pharisee to Paul the Apostle; it eventually changed the church from a Jewish sect to a universal faith; and thus it changed the world. Let’s try to get inside his head via a villanelle:
ROAD TO DAMASCUS
“I am Jesus whom you persecute.”
“If you’re the Christ, why isn’t Israel free?”
I’d thought it something he could not refute.
He did not argue; he was almost mute,
His searing radiance just content to be:
“I am Jesus whom you persecute.”
And I was on a journey, resolute
To stamp his sect out once and finally.
Death was an answer that they could not refute!
But how they faced it shook me to the root,
And now this Flame was burning into me,
“I am Jesus whom you persecute.”
Gamaliel had taught me all the fruit
That reason could produce–a Pharisee,
I had traditions no one could refute–
But now it was all burning into soot,
The Fire blinding me so I could see:
“I Am Jesus whom you persecute.”
It was a Reason I could not refute.
Remember: for more poetry like this, go to https://lanternhollow.wordpress.com/store/ and order Stars Through the Clouds! Also look for Inklings of Reality and Reflections from Plato’s Cave, Williams’ newest books from Lantern Hollow Press: Evangelical essays in pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. And look for Williams’ very latest book, Deeper Magic: The Theology behind the Writings of C. S. Lewis, from Square Halo Books!
Donald T. Williams, PhD
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