The piece is dedicated to a friend who has been dealing with depression, feelings of neglect, hopelessness, and low self-esteem and I hope to dedicate the poem to him to encourage him to seek God for guidance and strength. I hope he can put on the Armor of God everyday and face the challenges of life with hope and perseverance in God.

Paul hopes to encourage his church to wear the Armor of God because he knows that the people themselves are corrupt and weak without constant prayer and reflection on the Word of God. My piece emphasizes and seeks to warn the people to be especially careful of their inner thoughts and emotions. Around me, I have friends who feel down about themselves and resentment towards who they are due to their ugly inner thoughts and the ugly things they tell themselves and I hope to remind them that our inner thoughts sometimes do not come from ourselves but from the devil. This is the reason why we need to armor ourselves and keep in constant prayer. Without the strength and help from God, it is hard even to command ourselves to go the way we want.

Maria Tian- responsible for all- directing, writing, reading, recording.

Take a Stand

Beneath the prism of light, there is a shadow,
whispering softly like a spoiled secret,
creeping in an ironic glow,
striking the prey in a merciless bite.

Even a lion leaves its finished prey,
but the shadow never wanders astray.
Feasting like a king;
Our troubles are its bread, our fears are its wine,
our failures are its garden.
From our tears, its tillage blossoms.

Sometimes I see it as a tunnel,
a dark abyss with no end,
transcending all the light in the world.
Or I see it as a circle,
a hopeless return to the start,
a mockery of the progress I made.

Where is my direction? What is my life?
Like a foolish swallow, some swing their wings
but stumbles into a minefield.
They are afraid but swing nevertheless,
glistening behind their cultured ideologies.
Stubborn like a mule, poised in optimism,
inside a cast calcifies around their heart.

The searing sun cannot warm their spirits,
How dark are the rays of light?
No doctor could heal their hearts,
no medicine could treat their pains.
Even the birds fly free in the sky,
and the fish swims free in the sea,
but their hands and feet are chained and their lips are sealed shut,
yet so gracefully not.

Alas, as a mine goes off,
the cast is shattered,
gripping off flesh with its ingrown barbs.
And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Says the Word of God,
come to me and I will give you life,
come to see that you alone cannot suffice.
An epiphany arises in new desire,
purring from the depths of the souls.

Freedom whispers eagerly,
a tease of the future,
yet no future so near,
as the eternal flame of God.
Melting the chains,
a beckoning command.
A Father`s outstretched arms,
transcending all the darkness in the world.

Upon daily reflection, a sustaining connection,
God builds up an army.
Armed with swords and shields,
a breastplate and a helmet,
sandals to walk the illuminated path of peace,
trampling against the shadowed rulers, the cunning kings,
muddled minds awaken to pristine truth.

No flesh is torn nor blood is spilled.
The trumpet triumphantly sounds,
in symphonic shouts of victory,
in light that never fades.
An elixir of tranquility pours from their lips,
from the tree of life, I stem.

Oh, yonder shadows where is your sting?
You are no longer king.
I do not fear that you are here.
You are caught,
your broken locks lay astray.
Go back to the abyss from once you came.

Lift me out of sight, Lord,
surround me in your ethereal light.
Take my alabaster jar.
Lay all my weaknesses beneath me,
and I will stand in battle the way a gladiator stands in the arena: one haste, divine fight at a time.