Fresh

Words

Terminal

Craig Matthews
 / 
March 9, 2026

Wrap this day in cellophane

the mercury’s rising

while my heart’s on a distant plain.

Feeling lost and losing ground

I stepped in a pile of grief

and it’s smeared on my life.

Facing weakness like a disease

it declares I’m terminal

and knocks me to my knees.

I’d lick my wounds

but I’ve run out of spit

I want to quit—sick of this,

I’m tired—my patience expired.

Where’d all the sunrises go?

Did they melt with the snow?

I would like to see one

or maybe a sunset

But I’m living in a permanent eclipse

this darkness is ridiculous.  

Facing weakness it’s a disease

it declares I’m terminal

and knocks me to my knees.

Flat on my face

this carpet stinks

must have wiped my shoes

on the grief smear stains

which brings the pain,

I’m slain, again and again.

When you think you’ve turned the corner

brutal reminders hover, hinder

it sends you the message on repeat:

Facing weakness it’s a disease

it declares I’m terminal

and knocks me to my knees.

Then it steps on my neck

forcing me to grieve

and bleed.

Gasping for air

I cry out to God

and ask for mercy, please.

Facing weakness it’s a disease

it declares I’m terminal

and knocks me to my knees.

Does the sun shine behind the clouds?

I’ve had my doubts

trapped by silence as violence

God I need you to speak

to this debilitating need.

Facing weakness feels like a disease

it declares I’m terminal

and knocks me to my knees.

Right where God meets me.

Finally.

He tells me to boast

to brag, of all things,

instead of hiding

I’m highlighting

my disease

this weakness and need.

So His strength can shine

through these cracks in me.

Facing weakness may feel like disease

declaring I’m terminal

knocking me to my knees.

But it’s a grace

up side down though it seems.

It’s real not fatal

ushering a metamorphosis

of unmerited favor

moves my focus past this,

out of restlessness

and into a peace

I could not see

before this grace rescued me.

Terminal becomes just a place

to wait for new life

and long for the sun to rise again.

Wrap this in cellophane.

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"He that lives in hope dances without music."
George Herbert
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