Dare We Forget?

Dare We Forget?

The Chief Butler’s Elegy
Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying,
“I do remember my faults this day.”
Genesis 41:9

Dare we forget, O God, dare we forget?
Shall we not pause in lingering wonder yet
To meditate upon the One who said,
“This do as you recall I once was dead
That you might live with Me and never die
When I return in glory from on high.” Dare we forget the sufferings of His soul
When billows crashed and raging waters rolled
Across His helpless form when on the cross
He writhed and shuddered to redeem the lost?
Who then would dare deny “He bore for me
Those three eternal hours of agony”? Dare we forget, must we forget so soon
That sunless scene of midnight gloom at noon?
The stars for sorrow hid their weeping eyes
The moon in horror fled the blackened skies
When vengeful thunder, lightning, burning hail
As hot as hell rained on that form so frail. Who can forget and not recall again
The stygian darkness, tartarean pain
When from that dark abyss was heard the plea,
“My God, why hast thou thus forsaken me?”
Remember this, He was forsaken so
Because we all forsook God long ago! Dare we forget that God forgot our guilt
Forever when our scarlet sins had killed
His sinless, suffering Son who could not die
Except for others who, compelled to cry,
“O God have mercy on my sinful soul”
Found peace at last when Christ had made them whole. Then let us eat the loaf and drink the wine
Until He come who is the living vine
The staff of endless life the living bread
Who filled our souls forever when we fed
Upon His flesh and blood by faith, that we
Eternally might sing, “He died for me!” By Tom Summerhill