7)"Abundance" by Stephen Carradini

You lived in abundance

That we cannot yet know,
But came to our lack
And taught us to overflow

You came as we do, as a child
yet you were not rich
in the way of material things.
And now, as we try to overflow
as you did--trying to live
and see and love and wonder
as you wondered, on this earth--

we stare into the uncertainties
of war, displacement, racism,
greed, power, hatred, and violence.
It doesn't look abundant, and it hurts.
If you lived to bring abundance
why did you leave us to deal with want?

Yet you did more than visit our lack
you put it on, becoming human
so that you know how it feels
and we would know you know how it feels;
you hurt, and ached, and smiled
you want peace like we do,
you want the justice we want
and you long for the same abundance
as God and as man,
longing more than we can long ourselves
to bring the earth to right
to set abundance in the hearts of men forever
We long with impatience and sorrow,
but you so long ago promised that you
would not abandon us, and proved it
by becoming

a child and God, overflowing our categories--
As children of God, overflowing our understanding:
You who are abundant became want for us.

Stephen Carradini is an Oklahoman residing in North Carolina who reports on music at Independent Clauses,  publishes poems at Gospelized, and keeps trying to record music as The Midnight Sons.