In the garden the serpent showed me the fruit
With a beauty and fragrance within
But I did not know that its razor-sharp seed
Lay hidden down under its skin
It glowed with desire and was sweet to the taste
With a promise of wisdom and powers
But its poison-tipped blade cut right to my heart
Leaving sin among withering flowers
Oh where is the healing, and where is the balm
For my heart and my soul and my mind?
A pathway to carry me all the way home
And the Father who I left behind
Then suddenly I saw I was there at the cross
And I wept at the wound in His side
And the nails and the crown and the noise of the crowd
And His blood that flowed down like the tide
I saw in His hand was the husk of that fruit
Filled with vinegar and bitter gall
That was pressed to the lips of my Savior that He
Would taste for the sins of us all
Would taste for the sins of us all
They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof,
he would not drink.” Matthew 27:34 KJV
"Would taste for the sins of us all"
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025
All rights reserved
Poetry
Summer Friends
My summer friends sit on the porch
And whisper of the times
When first in April they were hung
And soft winds stirred their chimes
Till frost one morning stopped to say
That winter’s coming by
Whose breezes soon will blizzards bring
With snow drifts piled high
So I went out to take them down
And safely store till spring
Where they in silent shadows wait
God’s melodies to sing
Summer Friends by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2025 all rights reserved

A Prayer for My Pastor
Lord I’m praying for my pastor
Cause he really needs a bump
You know he's not too stylish
And he preaches like a shlump
I confess I like the coffee
And the donuts when they’re free
But I don’t like the sermons
When they name the sin in me
Sometimes I’ve even thought about
The church just up the street
Where the pastor wears an earing
And his messages are sweet
But at my suggestion
My dear wife began to cry
So, help me Lord be patient
With this homely little guy!
A Prayer for My Pastor
by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2025 - all rights reserved


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