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Three Lenten Sonnets—Andrew Peterson

By Andrew Peterson


Lenten Sonnet II, 2026


A young man lost in dark woods; a glimmer

In the tangled trees; a slow turn to see

A gleaming figure, his skin ashimmer.

I remember the warm pulse of mercy.

He speaks my name, and I, weeping, collapse

At his feet, undone by his holiness.

His strong, wounded hands lift me and he wraps

His great song around me, and with a kiss

I am full-known and forgiven and healed.

The warm pulse of mercy beats like a heart

At the core of the forest, love revealed

As Word and Flesh, Song and Singer. My part

Is now to sing out in the darksome wood,

For its King is here, and the King is good.


Lenten Sonnet V, 2026


Have mercy on me, O God, I beg thee,

In thy great goodness; because thy mercies

Are so wide, thou can wipe away from me

My offenses. Wash me of evil, please,

And from the grime of my sin scour me clean.

For I admit my faults and always see

My vilest deeds on my mind's movie screen.

The sin I sinned was against only thee,

So that thou art justified and blameless

In thy sentence and judgment against me.

Behold, I was brought forth in wickedness,

And in sin my own mother conceived me.

But inward truth, integrity of heart

Is thy will-wisdom in the secret part.


Lenten Sonnet XII, 2026

At Cumberland Falls, Kentucky


Maybe there's a metaphor about time

Hidden in the roar of Cumberland Falls,

Some grand connection to Wordsworth's sublime

Where the heart transcends and holiness calls;

And if somehow I can bottle the awe

And tether it fast to syllables (ten)

And lines (fourteen), the cataract I saw

Will gush a poem to make your head spin.

But the truth of it, honest to goodness,

Is that I merely lit my pipe and drew

With a brain as blank as a fresh canvas.

No metaphor. No deep insight broke through.

I was fully present, though, on the bluff,

And the world as it was? More than enough.


Andrew Peterson is a singer-songwriter, founder of the Rabbit Room, creator of numerous albums, and author of The Wingfeather Saga.


These sonnets originally appeared on Andrew Peterson’s Substack as part of a continuing series of Lenten Sonnets. Read the entire collection here.



 
 
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