This poem is based on Jeremiah 19:1-13.

If it is helpful, you may listen to me read the poem via the player below.

The prophet takes the elders through the gate
Where lie the ruins of rubble and trash,
Where the stench of dung and smoldering ash
Serves to speak, educate.

Nothing you see here will stay the same
Not one stone will be left on another;
Every child will be torn from their mother;
Nothing will be the same.

He draws them out; shows them a long-necked flask–
A potter’s handiwork, which he has bought;
He throws the flask down, to dash on the rocks
Blind, they’re the stiff-necked flask.

Don’t you see? Nothing will stay the same;
Break a clay flask, it’s no use at all;
Gather the pieces to Topheth haul,
Ruined, never the same.

The time has come, never to be the same,
Not one stone will be left on another;
The daughter will be torn from her mother;
Nothing will be the same.

And it all happened just as he said;
There weren’t enough tombs to bury the dead;
The living were yoked, to Babylon led
It happened just as he said.

Many kings later the Son of Man spoke,
‘Though you tear this temple down, yet I say
I shall surely raise it up in three days!‘
Thus the Son of Man spoke.

But the potter who had entered the clay
Was dashed on the rocks, his dwelling torn down,
Given a wreath of thorns for a crown,
A potter buried in clay.

Another dawn it seemed just the same;
Then earth broke, no stone left on another;
Returned is the Son torn from his mother;
Nothing will ever be the same.

© Randall Edwards 2018.
This poem is for Christ’s church. If it is helpful, please feel free to copy or reprint in church bulletins, read aloud, or repost. I only ask that an attribution be cited to myself (Randall Edwards) and this blog (backwardmutters.com). Thanks.
Artwork: James Tissot