It is a torturous question,
Whether someone’s heart
Can become hardened
Beyond the point of no return.
And the question itself serves
To reveal hearts even more.
For some will ask it in fear.
Some will ask it in hope.
And some will ask it seeking
An excuse to write-off the hard-to-love.
And I don’t think we know for sure
Where that line would be,
Beyond which it is impossible
Either to repent at all—
Or to repent fully enough to make
The difference that needs making—
In God’s eyes, that is—
Him being the only Judge
Whose rulings settle a matter
Once and for all.
We could simply declare the matter
As we wish it to be—
This way or that, of course.
But honesty would have us admit
That we do not know for sure.
And really, what person should be
Content merely to guess or to presume
In a matter of such import?
Yet the not knowing can be a torture for us
If we have no bias in the matter,
And the will to know the truth.
And it is that very good kind of torture.
It is the torture of the open door,
And whether or not it should be
Entered, and what lies beyond it explored.
And either way, the answer is
Of extreme importance
In how we should carry on
After having discovered it—
Whether some should be written off,
Or whether they should never be written off,
Or whether they should be written off for now.
