February 21, 2024

[Verses]

Don’t you like it, Simon, when I say
that your Messiah is not what you want?
Don’t you like it, Simon, when I tell you
I’ll be raised up on a cross?

Of course you don’t, dear Simon.
How could anyone be pleased to hear
Messiah is no conqueror,
except to turn the tables on Death.

I told you, but you wouldn’t hear it, Simon.
You tell me how to live my life
and die my death, and no. That’s not yours
to settle or define. It’s mine. And God’s.

Ah, Simon Peter, my dear Rock,
so hard of head, transparent of heart,
so certain of things that must be true,
and come to pass, and be:

I chide you hard for this denial now.
A night will come when your denials will
tap like a clock ticking toward dawn.
And then, I will not chide,
for you will turn aside

And weep.

© 2024 by Eric Anderson

This song is based on the #lectionprayer “Simon Peter’s First Denial.” As you’ll find there, I was asked if the poem had been set to music. It hadn’t – but now, with some lyric adjustment, it has.

The song’s premiere performance was on February 28, 2024.