Ash Wednesday

The following Lenten Sonnet first appeared in Calvinist Contact, 6 April 1990:

Deny my Lord? I could not but disdain
The thought that I might so esteem life's breath
As timidly to flee from threat of death
And thus avoid the Saviour's lenten pain.
No, never would I shout that same refrain
Of "I know not the man!" nor would I bend
In fear, but follow even to the end,
For I would not bear frailty's heavy chain.
But at that hour when courage seemed so vast,
When pride had banished cowardice from sight
And I had thought my valour would suffice,
I realized at once that, in the past,
Through sinful deeds committed I had quite
Denied my Lord far often more than thrice.

© David T. Koyzis 1990