‘Chastity’: A Sonnet Sequence by Justin Dasher

Chastity

‘My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.’
—The Song of Songs, The Bible

1.

Arise, O Sleeper, wake, when did you last
Perceive the brushing breeze against your skin,
A burning heat, the winter’s icy blast,
Another’s gentle touch which pulled you in?
We wander lost and cast apart, yet long
For one with whom we’re safe, for one whose touch
Does not rebuke, a place where we belong,
But drown in substitutes, to which we clutch.
—And yet—the world was made as an embrace,
A Lover’s soft caress that holds us pressed
To Him, as flowers and His love the vase,
Which holds our beauty near, against His chest
His body ruddy, strong, and undefiled,
His Bride one flesh with Him and reconciled.

2.

Arise, O Sleeper, wake, when did you last
Inhale the morning after rain or plumes
Of smoke from burning wood, the fresh mowed grass,
The scent of cookies baking in a room?
The city exhales noxious fumes—inhale
The smell of cigarettes, of humans packed
Into a room, the rotting smell assails
Our lungs, we try to breathe, by coughing wracked.
—And yet—the world was made to be perfume,
The wind to make the garden’s spices flow,
To smell of lilacs, daisies, in full bloom,
And we were made, our Groom’s bouquet to know,
To smell saffron and nard in incense wreaths,
To let our Love become the air we breathe.

3.

Arise, O Sleeper, wake, when did you last
Savor the sea salt spray—sour citrus fruit,
A cup of cocoa—wine within your glass,
That coffee that you ordered while en route.
We eat in haste and barely taste the meal
Attention split between our phone, the plate
The places that we need to be and feel
The seconds slip by and each moment grates.
—And yet—the world’s a feast for us arrayed,
And we were made to taste and relish it,
To linger at the table, wait, and stay,
The Bridegroom beckons us to pause and sit,
And taste the nectar from the comb which drips,
The sweetness of the kisses of His lips.

Justin Dasher is an emerging poet from Pueblo, Colorado. He studied philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder and currently serves with the Chaplain’s office at the United States Military Academy. He writes poetry on his Substack, Spaces in Between.