Darkness Crushed (A Poem by Cathy Gruman)

She couldn’t see a way
Her life had been taken over by these last few years, living out the path she had chosen.
She didn’t see a way out
Darkness surrounded her
Her flesh showed the stains of moments she would try to carve away the pain
But the sorrow remained
Her soul is marred
A light glimmers faintly in the distance
Flickering like a match about to go out but steady, promising to stay
She wanted to go there but forces within her held her down and she couldn’t break away

And before His final breath, He said “It is finished.”
And as the prophets spoke before
The curtain torn
Our flesh he bore abolished in the grave
Death no longer had its sting
What they knew now
Was different from before
The earth rumbled in triumph and defeat
And the depths of hell screamed in defiance and conquered feat
His body was laid in a tomb
with a massive stone and guards
His family wept, still confused
The sun stopped shining as the brightest star was in the grave
But as promised like the promises before that came to pass, every one of them before
He rose on the third day
His Father’s side he will abide
His spirit with us now
With promise of his return
Another promise to endure, to wait upon
But like the others that were fulfilled
We continue to move on
What does this mean to you and me?

She will get up off of the floor, even without strength; she’ll reach to where the light is and faintly mutter the words “help me”, because it’s all she has within her to convey her deepest need – but she knows, she knows it’s where she needs to be. Because of the meaning of “It is finished” her need is taken into His hands and she begins to see the light, once flickering in her peripheral vision, is now enveloping her and embracing the stain that once had hold of her but is now behind her.