Utterly gone, 
The Light of the World. 
Utter darkness, 
The despair of crushed hope. 
Utterly alone, 
The devout scattered in hiding. 
Utter fear, 
The heart stripped of faith. 

Forsaken, 
Denied, 
Reviled, 
Humiliated, 
Rejected, 
Abandoned. 

In the cold blackness 
Of another man's tomb, 
Bone and flesh kept from ruin. 
Anchored by ancient prophesies, 

Yet none believed his own promises: 

Destroy this temple
And I will rebuild it in three days.
As Jonah was in the belly of the whale
Three days and three nights... 

It is hard to trust faith above sight, 
To overcome the might of pierced side,
Spilled blood and cold flesh, 
To breathe fresh the declarations
That defy evidence, 
To believe what cannot be. 

And so, in the utter aloneness
Of shattered hope
And the delusions of this world's harsh truths, 
They wept and wailed, 
Grieving as those without hope, 
Pulled below the raging depths, 
Not yet believing
They would yet see their King 
Crowned in glory and standing
At the right hand of the Eternal One. 

And so they grieved
In the aching, piercing darkness,
Tears falling on stone,
Tracing the path of aloneness
Beyond expression. 

H. Arnett
4/19/25