Slithery Serpents

Take away the serpents
© 2009 John A. Clausen
ref: Numbers 21:4-9, John 3:14-21

Lord, take away the serpents.
The bite is cruelly sharp.
The poison, now injected,
speeds quickly to my heart.
The venom of the reptile,
which courses through my veins,
gives pause to longer living
the poison, dark sin, stains.
Lord, take away the serpents;
I’ll take away my pride.
Lord, listen, answer truly,
lest the poison stay inside.

The serpents’ deadly pestilence
remains despite my prayer.
Yet lifted high above me
new life is fix’ed there.
You didn’t take the serpents,
but in answer to my plea,
you gave a means of living
as you died upon the tree.
You didn’t take the serpents;
you took, though, all my sin
and placed its fearful poison
in your life, mine to win.

So, when the serpents slither,
give now your gift of grace;
forgive my constant failings
my sins, by love, erase.