A Feigned Remorse Poem by David Plantinga

You're crying out against your sin
Because you're standing on the shore
Aware your guilt is so much more
Than your acknowledged ramekin.
An ocean of iniquity
Extends to the horizon's edge,
Farther than shamming can allege,
Deeper than faked hyperbole.
Frightened, you're dipped a ladle in
And drawn a spoonful from that sea
Unwashed, that liquid is your plea,
Sin-spattered, it's your lanolin.
Propitiating by the less
You take a slighter punishment
And by your groveling prevent
The consequence of sinfulness.
That inundation you so fear,
And try to duck by feigned remorse,
By screeching curses till you're hoarse,
Accumulates from every tear
The truly penitent have wept.
The measure of your filth exceeds
The dust and ash of ranted screeds.
But look, your pathway back is swept!
The Lord has fathomed the abyssal
Where your iniquity has pooled,
And all-forgiving, He has ruled
Sincere acceptance is dismissal.
When you admit what you done
The shame and anguish of the sting
Hurts more than present suffering,
But bitter, that confession's won
Forgiveness. All your blemishes
Are cleansed; the tainted becomes pure
In innocence that will endure.
Grace pardons when it punishes.