"The Passage"

Naked soul, so lost, and broken

Salient to find rich closeness

Defiant, riddled, and shamelessly sour

So unfit to give in fullness

Flesh and spirit spry

Body and mind acutely restive

Marching and combing for the truth

The world painted gray and derisive

Redeemed and drawn by One

Accepting, transforming, and saving

Failures shine with lucid iniquity

New eyes, ears, piercing, raving

Inward to outward, selfish to selfless

Fueled and fed by benevolence

Notes in harmony, flavors so sweet

Torn between anxiousness and patience

The path beaten, the cross heavy

Maturity does not rescue us

The peaks, the valleys, continually persevere

Trials build strength and purpose

The enemy abides with deception and hate

Attacking, destroying, and killing

Sin so real, so common, so illusive

The battle is on, the powers are testing

The choices are ours, the outcome written

We are a letter, waiting to be read

A living example for those to follow

The light, the salt for those that need to be fed

May we remember that through Him

We are clothed, found, and gracefully healed.

-Banks