Songs of Hope

Why

Why all this pain and darkness
that drain my soul and break my bones?
Why all this fretful stress and anguish
which whisper: “That’s all! There’s nothing more”?
Why did I have to stumble,
why did I have to fall?
Why do I suffer now
and no one hears me when I call?
Why does it feel that I’m forsaken,
unwanted and reduced to dust?
Why is there no one to embrace me,
so I would not live as I must?

“Why” is the question piercing my heart
that leaves it bitter, blind but not inclined to ask:

Why is the Sun still shining brightly,
why does mercy send its rain?
Why is still wisdom shouting loudly
inviting strangers to a better day?
Why do I stifle joy’s patient voice
that tells me: “Count your blessings and rejoice!”
Why do I resist with adamant persistence
love’s power to call into existence
what’s not there but will be
if I believed its promise
but even if I don’t and choose to waver
still His steadfast love endures forever¹.

But why?

_{1 Psalm 136 (ESV)}

Why does love never fail,
why does it bear all
even if it only hears: “no, no, no”?
Why’s love so kind and strong
despite the yells of staggering despair:
“How long? How long?”
Why do I never ask these whys
but ask the ones of hopeless cries
that rob me of the time to live
and make me long the day
when all my whys will be resolved
but truly, on that day
when it arrives
they’ll merely melt away.