The seed of the serpent, subtle and crafty,
Beguiles the good, and then goes for the throat.
God made us for mercy, in mercy we conquer.
Doubt and despair are the devil’s two fists,
So know that no knowledge or notion can save us.
The grace of the gospel will guard what we have.
Our lusts are his lures, our loves are deranged.
With baubles from Babel to break every heart.
Our choices are chains, His choices free us.
The word fights this war, with weapons deployed,
High arguments, angular, but able to topple
All voices of vanities, vicious companions.
Our Savior was sent and was seed of the woman,
And wisdom is winsome.
That woman was all,
Cornerstone, capstone, and columns of marble.
With wrath on our wreckage, smoke rises deserted,
Our temples temptations, yet trials are hopeful.
Our blessings are brutal, but brought by our Father.
So shovels and swords are the sum of our duties,
Our work is our warfare, and with it our joy—
Rebuild, and do battle, with both of them needed.
“Blessing” does not mean “lack of suffering”.
And “suffering” does not necessarily mean “blessing”.
Doug, this sounds oh so Anglo Saxon. In fact, it “feels” just like your translation of Beowulf, which was the most enjoyable one of read thus far. Nicely done. Marshal Anglo Saxon poetry seems to express appropriately the sentiments of the faithful church militant in our cultural moment so much better than “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…”
Maybe “Our choices are chains; His choices, our freedom” scans a little better?
Somebody on Facebook was wondering why the video slogan wasn’t “hammers and swords.” I proposed that it was for the sake of alliteration. If I’d read this yet, I would have asserted it more confidently.