My Flesh & The Spirit

A Poem by Caleb S Davis

(Inspired by Romans 5-8)

What is this thing, this thing that pulls me down?

Like a lover with an urgency for desire, this thing whispers in my ear. 

Desire swells within. Longing, for a satisfied me.

“It’s about what I want, what I need, what feels good to me.” 

When my eyes are closed, I embrace her seduction.

But when my eyes are open, I see the scheming smile of darkness.

Like a fly trapped in a spiders net, my soul is entangled in a web of chains.

I called her “my truth,” until someone saved me, and said her name was “slavery.”

I tried to pull away, but my shackles were too tight. 

I was deceived, and yet this deception continues to entice.

What is this thing, this thing that lives in me? 

It is my Flesh. 

It is the tree that produces the evil within, and the pain I smear on you.

“I want to get away, but I can’t.

I need to get away, but I won’t.”

If I continued to get my way, death would be its fruit.

But I am not strong enough to free myself from these chains,

So I turned to the one who showed me the way, and they led me to the truth.

Who is this person, this person who saves my soul?

They are the Spirit.

They are the tree that produces goodness in me, the healing I give to the weary.

To receive their gift is to embrace life, to eat their fruit is to find peace.

I heard a voice, and he said, “Follow me.” 

But as I drew near, I saw that he was wounded.

He wore thorns like a crown, blood anointed his face like oil.

“Where will we go?” I asked. He led me to a tomb, and I was afraid.

For I feared death, the death to which I knew my chains were bound.

I wished not to perish, to be separated from everything that comes from love.

But he offered his hand, and his words were gentle, 

“Fear not,” He said, “for I Am with you.”

Like roots fighting their husk in a battle, my shackles began to rattle.

My chains burst open, and I was free. 

Like roots gripping good soil, my hand intertwined with his. 

I could feel where a nail once pierced.

We entered the tomb, we laid down together, and darkness surrounded us.

The night was still and we were at peace, for I no longer was bound to my leash.

Like lovers in the quiet or children after midnight, 

We shared whispers of life, and my heart filled with light.

“Why the nails, in your hands and your feet?” I asked.

“It was the price to pay, and I paid it with all my might.” His voice was like the sound of waves washing the shore, “I am in you, and you are in me. You will be in us, from now and into eternity.”

Indescribable love, the depths of which no person can fathom. Though I wish I could have stayed in that moment, I knew this tomb was only a womb, and I was about to be born, rising from the ground, raised to walk a new life.

The morning rose, the tomb opened, the seedling sprouted. 

Like a soothing wind blowing on a hot summer day, 

The Spirit filled my lungs with new breath.

No longer am I bound to the chains of my slavery, For I have found the truth.

The truth, paved the way.

The way, led to life.

And the life, is the Word.

Who is this person, this person who saves my soul?

They are the Spirit, they are the love that sets me free.