{"id":68984,"date":"2025-01-10T01:31:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T06:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=68984"},"modified":"2025-01-04T08:45:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T13:45:50","slug":"coeur-incurvatus-in-se-a-poem-for-the-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2025\/01\/10\/coeur-incurvatus-in-se-a-poem-for-the-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Coeur Incurvatus in Se&#8211; a Poem for the New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><span class=\"mw-default-size\"><a class=\"mw-file-description decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Narcissus-Caravaggio_(1594-96)_edited.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"mw-file-element\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/29\/Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg\/270px-Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg\" srcset=\"\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/29\/Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg\/405px-Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg 1.5x, \/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/29\/Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg\/540px-Narcissus-Caravaggio_%281594-96%29_edited.jpg 2x\" width=\"270\" height=\"327\" data-file-width=\"5951\" data-file-height=\"7205\"><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Coeur Incurvatus in Se<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(as Luther said)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Self-absorbed in the garden<\/p>\n<p>He became Narcissus<\/p>\n<p>The heart inverted<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019ll never miss us.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Realized he was naked<\/p>\n<p>Fig leaves won\u2019t do,<\/p>\n<p>Hide from your maker,<\/p>\n<p>Who must remake you.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mirrors and selfies<\/p>\n<p>Self-focus supreme<\/p>\n<p>Who cares about others<\/p>\n<p>If I\u2019m my own dream?<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The three persons I love<\/p>\n<p>Me, myself, I<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m always distant<\/p>\n<p>From others who try<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To win my attention<\/p>\n<p>To woo me again<\/p>\n<p>To shatter the mirror<\/p>\n<p>To destroy primal sin<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The problem with falling<\/p>\n<p>In love with yourself<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a monotonous courtship<\/p>\n<p>A life on the shelf.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It leaves you alone<\/p>\n<p>And lonely as well<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not self-fulfilling<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the pathway to hell.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No one is an island<\/p>\n<p>A wise man once said<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a decline into darkness<\/p>\n<p>It leads to the dead<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet we long for relations<\/p>\n<p>For love that is true,<\/p>\n<p>But this requires an other<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s a narcissist to do?<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere long ago<\/p>\n<p>A sage made so clear<\/p>\n<p>\u2018You must be born again\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The kingdom is near.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The old self must die,<\/p>\n<p>To have life everlasting<\/p>\n<p>It requires more than just trying<\/p>\n<p>More than just fasting.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>You need an intervention<\/p>\n<p>An unlikely hero<\/p>\n<p>A demolition man<\/p>\n<p>And I don\u2019t mean Nero.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A radical rescue<\/p>\n<p>Is what is required<\/p>\n<p>A total surrender<\/p>\n<p>Of what self desired.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not a self-help program<\/p>\n<p>Not five easy steps<\/p>\n<p>Not multiple meditations<\/p>\n<p>Not endless good reps.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Take up <em>your<\/em> cross<\/p>\n<p>Not mine, Jesus said<\/p>\n<p>Would you rather be living<\/p>\n<p>Or carry on dead?<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Not self-fulfillment<\/p>\n<p>Self-sacrifice<\/p>\n<p>Is what\u2019s required<\/p>\n<p>Is the full price.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The cure for heart disease<\/p>\n<p>In our deadly condition<\/p>\n<p>Is a total transplant<\/p>\n<p>By the great physician!<\/p>\n<p>BW3<\/p>\n<p>January 4, 2025<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coeur Incurvatus in Se (as Luther said) \u00a0 Self-absorbed in the garden He became Narcissus The heart inverted He\u2019ll never miss us. \u00a0 Realized he was naked Fig leaves won\u2019t do, Hide from your maker, Who must remake you. \u00a0 Mirrors and selfies Self-focus supreme Who cares about others If I\u2019m my own dream? \u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":68593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15146],"class_list":["post-68984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-house-divided-against-itself"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coeur Incurvatus in Se-- a Poem for the New Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Coeur Incurvatus in Se (as Luther said) &nbsp; Self-absorbed in the garden He became Narcissus The heart inverted He\u2019ll never miss us. &nbsp; Realized he\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coeur 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