by Amirah David

Like dominoes
our own set of woes
flows from generation to generation,
unbeknownst to most of us,
and in spite of our protests -

because what we behold grows
within us, until it overflows
to those who watch our every move -
how we come and how we go,
what we reap and what we sow.

We become like what we steep in -
what we use our time and mind to know, 
and believe in.

We become what we behold.

Our children watch us like hawks,
need us like clockwork,
speak the very words we speak,
until those words become the voice that seeps
into their inner speech
that seeks to motivate them by the force of love,
or by fear and critique.

As children, we have no choice in what we hear,
but as we grow, we can choose what we come near.

What seeds do we receive in
that can conceive, 
grow, and birth of their own kind?
Fruit that gives light and life,
or fruit that deceives, and leads us away
day by day, until we find
that we are blind in the dark -
can’t perceive the right way?

We might achieve what the world calls “good,”
but be left hollow, unable to cleave
to the One who brings true relief
from the void.

If we become what we behold,
then I want to be singly aware
of the good beyond compare - 
the divine Guide that cares for us
enough to prepare us for
the life He wants to share with us.

It is God.  
It must be - not about me.
He is the only place to stare -
His glory was revealed in the face of - Jesus -
the body of God’s care -
perfect life with the holy audacity to dare
to die for our welfare.

He said: “If thine eye be single, thy whole body be full of light.” (Matthew 6:22)
If I look off somewhere
at the shiny dark
dressed as an angel of light
I will lose sight of the very author of right.

And then day turns to night,
and wrong tries to be right,
and peace is sought with smite.

“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, 
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

So, Jesus, please
fix my eyes on You
so I can see from Your light -
my heart’s disease,
and remain on my knees,
so You can hold me and mold me
degree by degree
until the character seen is You 
and no longer me - 
the me in You I was meant to be -
so others may behold and be held, 
and come to know Thee.

Amirah David is a mental health therapist and mother of two young children living in Ashland, OR. Three years ago, her life began again when she found Christ through her search for meaning and hope in the suffering she witnesses on a daily basis. Having always written poetry, she was unsettled to find her creative juice dried up, and she found herself drinking from God’s firehose of wisdom and information for years before He gave her poetry back — but this time, for His kingdom. These are poems from a larger collection of poetry with an apologetic focus — aimed at showing the stark difference between what the world has to offer and what Jesus has to offer.