Christian Alexander Barkman

I saw Him Come to God in Madness...

after pantheist wishes to join

the wind, moss, and rain;

after dreams of utopia,

which set the world ablaze;

after psychedelics, nightmares,

and snake oil friends,

he at last turned to God,

in time for the end.

The Lamb at the Passion

Push through the wicked crowd 

    To behold the blood and bone

Of the blameless man from Galilee

    Who struggles on alone—

Draped in the blood of his passion.

The lashes at the pillar

    Dye red his holy fleece,

The thorns that pierce his skull

    Do crime to love and peace—

Of which he’s prince and captain.

The imposition of the wood

    Upon the shoulder ripped and torn,

That exceeding pain he bore 

    With mildness, without scorn—

Upon the road to martyrdom.

At the final act, the tide of blood

    Soon to fail,

He poured forth from his side 

    Water and wine— 

A sign of his unending mercy.

There are not tears enough 

    To honor what was given,

Nor match in stream

    The love poured out:

The power that whipped

    The primordial flood,

Contracted now to human debility,

    To pay redemption by blood.

Christian Alexander Barkman is a PhD student at the University of Tulsa studying Renaissance and Restoration Literature. His first poetic work, Of Love and Angels: Poems for My Fiancée (Wipf & Stock, 2023) was written as a love-gift for his wife in celebration of their engagement.