These Are My JOTtings, Part #2

"A Past"

To have "a past," we often do.
Its marks can cause us pain,
but saving love when it is through
brings life from which we gain.

"A past" may stop us 'fore we start.
What can I offer, yet?
The thought, that breaks our very heart,
weighed down by Life's regrets.

"A past" can cause us back to shrink.
No hope to leader be.
How could I ever dare to think,
that some would follow me?

"A past" makes shadows bring us peace.
We fade into the wall,
and hope, that "unknown" days increase,
before some "known" could fall.

But One, Who had no past to hide
can cover "past" with Blood
to cause me Hope upon His Side,
to call my life, now, good.

The consequences of my "past"
may bring me bitter tears,
but One, Who is The First and Last
will wipe them with my fears.

My "past" will someday be forgot
in His Forgetting Sea
for I'm the sheep, that He has sought
my weariness to free.

by Jay O’Toole
on February 28th, 2024