Lent

Yet Lord instruct us to improve our fast
By starving sin and taking such repast,
As may our faults control:
That ev’ry man may revel at his door,
Not in his parlour; banqueting the poor,
And among those his soul.

From Lent – George Herbert

This final verse evokes the upside-down world that Jesus inaugurates. In the same way the humble will be exalted, here the one who fasts and feeds the poor will be filled.

I love the last line, a surprise ending, and also a double-meaning. When you feed the poor, you feed yourself, not just because it is a good deed, but because you also were among the poor all along.

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