This is a sonnet based on a quote from St John Chrysostom, who wrote,

“Find the door of your heart and you will discover it is the door to the Kingdom of God.”

You may listen to a recording of the sonnet by clicking the player below.

The door of your heart is hidden from view
Behind feelings and ulterior motives,
Deceived in self-blinding subterfuge
We shrug off, indifferent, our heart’s need un-noted.
But sadness pierces, breaks open the breach;
Anger blows the magazine in fiery rage;
Contempt burns in blush, shame shouts with speech
As terror trips and tangles, and traps us in its cage.
And these moments with feelings our hearts bleed —
O’erpowered, uncontrolled, exposed, laid bare;
In words mixed with tears we pour out our need
Crying aloud in psalms to anyone who’s there.
When this way our hearts in asking, seeking, knocking bring,
We cross the Kingdom’s threshold into the presence of the King.

© Randy Edwards, 2016
Artwork: Alexandre Bida, “Ask, and It Shall Be Given unto You”