The World Cannot Stop for You
This poem is about the incident described in “Pearls Before Breakfast,” the story of Joshua Bell, the world-famous violinist who played unnoticed in a Washington train station. But it was inspired by “Ignoring Beauty,” the Desiring God blog entry posted in response to the incident. I wrote it a few months ago for my Creative Writing class. If you want to understand it, I highly encourage you to read at least the Desiring God entry first.
The world cannot stop for you.
You are only a bow on four strings,
A scrap of song on a busy morning,
Drowned out by a thousand voices
And two thousand feet on the pavement.
In glittering concert halls, your genius is legendary,
But here you are interrupting. We cannot stop.
The world cannot stop for You.
You are only a common criminal,
A disturbing spectacle on a sunny day,
Passed by because we do not want to look;
Forgotten because we do not want to remember.
Your name echoes in the ancient courts of heaven,
But here You are interrupting. We cannot stop.
Filed under: Books/Writing, Christianity on August 30th, 2007
Ouch…Wow, what a beautiful analogy! I was shocked when I read the article about Bell, but I wonder if I would have stopped if I walked by him! I wish I could say I would, but who knows? And how often do we pass by the beauty of the Lord (in all its forms), and don’t recognize it for what it is–or who He is?? Very thought-provoking, as always!
This is lovely, Anna. That article (”Pearls Before Breakfast”) is one of my favorites.