There He Lay, There He Lay

Not long ago I wrote a new song. Although I cannot lay claim to the experience depicted myself, it did happen to a military acquaintance, and the gist I have used in the lyrics. I remembered how humbled and distraught he was after returning to the post in Germany, it quite literally shook him. That’s also the thing about Jesus, he fills us in on a remarkable truth, giving us the insight in the example story of the Wheat and the Tares, and then, he preaches love. If I’m right, the Tares are those individuals earmarked for the fires of hell, to no fault of their own. They are Tares, and in the same way a leopard cannot change its spots, a tare cannot cease from being a tare. Yet, we show respect and admiration for the leopard, should it be no less we show respect and concern in this life for all men? 

I know, it is not an easy thing to respect or even ‘love’ everyone. Perhaps that’s why the Greek language has several words translated ‘love,’ so we get it right in the instance. God kind of love is agape, love shown of/for the believing brethren one toward another; eros has to do with intimacy, sexual love; and of course, philio which deals with acknowledgement of the other person, treating your neighbor as you want to be treated, and perhaps, that brotherly camaraderie prevalent in society. The point is that the ‘love’ we show others should be the human epithet.

There He Lay, There He Lay

The old man gazed at me, On the Rue Paris,

As though I wasn’t really there.

His glassy eyes Behind wrinkled skin,

Spoke hardship and despair.

We were all in line, At a picture show,

A title I cannot remember,

When he keeled real hard, Falling to the ground,

Others simply let him go, and

There He Lay, There He Lay.

He had the foulest stench about him, Teeth were rotted clear away.

I knelt and laid my lips upon him, Kissing an open grave.

I breathed life there into his lungs, Kept pressing his chest in time,

My hope was this old soul survived, When the gendarme  grabbed my arm,

There He Lay, There He Lay.

Inside I was rebelling, Strong arms kept repelling,

Of all those gathered round observing, None moved in to help the hurting,

I had laid my lips upon him, To breath life into his lungs,

Restrained, I could only offer tears, As life forces left this one, and

There He Lay, There He Lay.

(x2)

I had hoped to report the medics made haste,

First responders redirected his fate,

That he opened his eyes, And he gasped for breath,

Truth is they all came too late.

I had laid my lips upon him, To breath life into his lungs,

Restrained, I could only offer tears, As life forces left this one,

There He Lay, There He Lay.

© 2021 Theodore A Henning II

Perhaps I’ll get it recorded and posted here…