This villanelle is based on 1John 3:1. In it I connect the adoption which John revels in and employ the parable of the Prodigal Son to reflect upon the significance of that adoption.
1John 3:1 reads,

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

See what kind of love the Father has shown
Though orphaned in the world and left to die,
To be adopted as your child, by your name, known.
And finding me lifeless nearly dead as a stone,
You gathered me close, having heard my cry;
See what kind of love the Father has shown.
Raised as your child, nevermore alone,
I walk the wide world neath my Father’s blue sky
As your adopted child, by your name, known.
In desperate delusion, I set off to roam
To seek a better blessing, to taste and to try
To see what kind of love the Father has shown.
In cunning deceit, in rebellion I’d flown
Defamed the family name, lived hiding in a lie
Though your adopted child, by your name, known.
Now broken and shoeless, I return home,
Offering my life, my redemption to buy.
I see what kind of love the Father has shown,
Am your adopted child by your name, known.

© Randy Edwards
artwork: Gustave Dore