I do not know what prompt
Urged the action:
Intentional intent,
Selfish ambition,
Or innocent enthusiasm?
I do not know.
Was overstep
Of rules and allegiance
Ignorance?
Or over-confidence?
I do not know.
This much I know:
I am my brother’s keeper
And my sister’s too!
I see impulsive Peter
Chided by the Master
Oh, so often!
I hear hosannas in one ear;
The next cry: crucify!
I do not know.
I know nothing but the WORD!
The WORD, THE WORD, THE WORD!
Were three betrayals
Motives for preservation
Of self, of cause,
Or illusion and frustration
With slow majestic Kingdom?
I do not know.
But in depression’s hole
Of isolation
I feel a feeling!
’Tis the Master’s healing:
Forgiving, redeeming, reinstating
The impulsive one.
One, two, three times:
“Do you love me more than these?”
“Feed my lambs!
Tend my sheep!”
I do not know why
I do not know.
’Tis mystery to me
That rashness was the Rock
On which God’s Church is built
And it is writ:
You shall not rock it.
Three plus three plus one.
’Tis God’s question:
“Do you love me
Above yourself?”
“Feed my sheep.”