Tick Tock so Slowly Slips Away the Precious Sabbath Clock

By Katherine B. Parilli

 

Tick Tock goes the clock

I do not know what to do.

 

Sabbath day

What a joy,

But I am so tired

My body to weary

To rejoice as it should.

Tick tock slips away reach precious hour

Yet I only sit and yawn.

My heart should rejoice.

My limbs burst with joy

At the delight hidden within each holy hour

Yet I only long for peaceful slumber.

 

Oh my faithful Father,

How low your heart my weary head must bring.

With anticipation,

With longing love

Your self-sacrificing Son draws near

But instead of rapturous joy upon my beaming face,

He instantly recognizes the tail tale sorrowful slipping lids.

 

Drooping eyes,

Bobbing head,

Deep ling sighs,

Fill each slow ticking hour.

In sorrow the anxious angels must bend

Hoping to catch whisper of joy.

Instead of soft moans of deep fatigue

Distracting from the rich sermons of Your love.

 

I long deep down to prance with joy,

To bubble incessantly about some hidden treasure discovered by a rapturous heart

Filled and over with brimming love.

Only my body is weary,

My uncooperative eyelids grow heavy,

And sleep overcomes me like a straining toxic cloud.

That blessed Sabbath rest

That wondrous time where Heaven’s King bends low,

Is wasted upon my mind benumbed brow.

 

Oh give me strength!

Awaken my heavy rhythmically beating heart,

Burrowed down into the impenetrable bowls of intoxicating sleep.

A sleep so thick,

So like a heavy crushing fog,

Enveloping me deep within its unending thick blankets,

Until I am helplessly trapped within its mysterious unrelenting folds.

 

Unnatural in origin

A devouring tool of devilish delight.

To poison the beauty of the Sabbath hours.

Unnatural in nature

Its calculating talon grasp could only come from him.

So fearful lest a fleeting crumb of a blessing should fall

And destroy his vile power.

Or that his cruel influence should be diminished by the slightest crumb.

 

Oh give me rest in its due hour,

But awaken me for day lights duty.

Awaken me to walk with Thee

And to be able to study Thy awesome power!

Oh from this caustic sleep awaken me

To sup with Thee while there is yet time!

Destroy the devil’s deadly grasp

Until once more I awaken to delight

In the Sabbath’s golden hours!

© 2016