Stripes

Careful concentration
The lines must be just so
There’s more riding on this
Than anyone could know
Perfect parallel patterns
Of red, still oozing out
But no one understands
What this is all about
I’m not trying to die
It’s more trying to live
To get lost in control
Not the memory of him
Something silver glistens
Blood drips off the edge
Is it his pair of scissors
Or my razor blade instead
As I think about what he
Must have done to me
My panic only grows
I’m chained to what I see
So in the here and now
Trapped by my beliefs
The act of slicing skin
Provides me some relief
I watch the red lines grow
So intricate and neat
And I’m lost in a world
Where shut down is complete
Anything to forget
The memories I have
Things that I can’t talk about
Because they are so bad
I’m mesmerized for now
By my newly formed red stripes
Trying not to think about
The pain that lies behind
Like the pain that Someone
Endured just for me
The penalty I owed
So I could be set free
My stripes have no meaning
When all is said and done
They will soon be scars
That’s all they can become
But I know my Savior’s stripes
Have deeper meaning still
He took my punishment
Because it was God’s will
To save me from my sins
And teach me what is real
Jesus paid it all
And by His stripes I’m healed