Tongue’s Confession

Words are Powerful – image by Susanne Heaton

Tongue’s Confession by Deene Webb

Clever, clever
I think that I’m so clever,
As poison spits between my teeth.“Hey, I know!” she says, eyes bright,
but sarcasm thick as honey, green as slime
seals
her idea’s fate.They recoil from my poisonous dart.
I counter.
“You idiot. Can’t you take a joke?”
Funny, funny, I’m so funny.Clever, clever
I think that I’m so clever,
As poison spits between my teeth.Virtue pouts.
“Isn’t it the truth?”
“I say what I think, that’s just me!”“Oh, don’t worry, that’s how we roll.”
Truth mixed with lies—pain.
Excuse, excuse like toxic waste.A turn of phrase, a clever dig,
Everyone laughs, I feel big.
Clever, clever
I think that I’m so clever,What is one more poke?
One more jeer? One more curse?
Creation of heart’s protective crust,
that’s what.Clever, clever
I think that I’m so clever,
as poison spills out from my heart.

Awkward, awkward is the foreign.
Praise sticks in my throat.
It thickens my tongue.
I think it but I can’t speak it.

Awkward, awkward is the foreign.
Blessings hang… in the air.
My mind dulls.
I can’t receive, can’t reply.

Clever, clever, I put you down.
I lift me up.
Slowly, slowly you expire.
Slowly, slowly I poison
…me.

Thirsty, thirsty is my soul.
Clever words stole His joy.
Thirsty, thirsty is my soul.
Oh, what can clean the poison
… out?

All this “cleverness” is not so wise when sarcasm drips thick as honey and green as slime. We might successfully fool ourselves, but the exposure of hurtful words is felt by those on whom it is spewed. No wonder James writes:

“… the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire…”

About the Author:

Deene Webb is a friend, mentor, teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, and has finished a career as missionary in Colombia. She wrote this in response to hearing James 3:1 – 12 – demonstrating a teachable and humble posture to God’s word spoken into her life.

May we be so wise as to tame our own tongues in this day of reckless words.