“No Man is an Island” – A Christian Poem of Encouragement
****This is from Karen, a previous blog contributor***
These are lyrics to a song I wrote nearly 20 years ago that I recently came across while sifting through papers I read these lyrics over the phone to a friend; this song was written concerning betrayal by people who had called themselves my friends and in whom I had trusted. My friend thought the words were pretty powerful, and I must say, since I just recently found the lyrics, it seems as if someone else wrote them. The Lord gave me the gift of creativity when I was younger, but it seems to have disappeared now.
The first three stanzas were written concerning the physical pain I was in with lupus and related health problems that no one understood or could even see (hence the mockery of my pain), the next three are about betrayal by friends and longing to find someone to share your pain with who would understand.
The next three are about finding Someone you’ve been looking for all along who was always there all along, and who alone could ever understand your physical pain as well as the pain of betrayal by friends.
The first stanza is kind of corny, but please read on:
“No Man is an Island” by Karen
No man is an island
Unto himself they say,
But yet I find myself marooned,
A shipwrecked castaway.
What man is an island
But the one who’s not believed?
One whose closest companion
Is the pain no one can see?
You long for someone just to understand,
Someone to share your pain,
But all your pleading, outstretched hands grasp
Is scornful disdain.
Your battered, wounded soul cries out,
You plead for vindication,
The echo of your words returns
To taunt your desolation,
No one rescues, no one saves,
Is this your predetermined fate?
Is there a higher plan in this?
Are you just twisting in the wind?
No one is an island,
So I’ve heard it said,
But no man stands alone
Like one who’s been betrayed by friends.
Who then is an island
But the one fooled by disguise,
Who finds the cloak of friendship
Hid the foe unrecognized?
Behind the friendly, smiling eyes,
Behind the warm embrace,
The unseen enemy awaits
His chance to take your place.
You search this barren, desert land
Through endless streams of faces,
But empty wells are all you find,
Mirage for an oasis.
Will you find that kindred soul
To take your hand and say “I know,”
“I’ve walked this road you travel, too,
“I’ve walked this road you travel, too,
I know just what you’re going through”?
No man is an island
Like the one who doesn’t know
That Someone walks beside him
On his dark and lonely road.
Who can be an island
When at last you understand
The One who’ll never leave your side
Bears scars of nail-pierced hands?
Man of sorrows. man of grief,
His suffering did not end,
For every sorrow that you bear,
He suffers once again.
Beaten, scourged and mocked,
Betrayed and left to die alone,
The Man who died an island
Lives to give exiles a home.
All that’s hidden now will be
Displayed for all the world to see,
Shouted from the mountaintops
Will be each secret, deadly plot.
Then at last will be revealed
The answers that have been concealed,
The reason for each tear you shed
Awaits you at your journey’s end.
-
Karen Reid
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Anonymous
About the author: Justin
I am the owner of Christianbooksbibles.com, an online retailer of Christian books, Bibles, Sunday school curriculum, Bible study materials, music, and more. I really enjoy exploring my own faith through writing some of the content for this blog. I'm a stong believer that God speaks to us through the pursuit of exploring your faith. Explore your faith.