A Raging Fire

Who can say in all honesty that they've never lost their temper and, in haste, said the wrong thing?

Sometimes we make excuses and say that the tounglashing the other person received was justified in some way, but at the end of the day, the shameful truth remains the same. We were unable to control our tongue, and we must face the consequences of our hasty actions. 

This was the painful truth I was left pondering several years ago after a particularly heated argument with one of my closest friends. Similarly to what is described in the poem, I lost my temper and only after having irrevocably damaged the friendship did I come to my senses. I realized that there was nothing I could do to rectify the situation except use it as a painful lesson on what to never do again. While praying to God and begging for forgiveness, I was reminded of the words written by multiple Bible authors regarding the importance of guarding the tongue. 

After pondering the Scriptures, I prayed to God and wrote these words as a way to process and express what I was still too proud to admit. Basing the poem mainly on the words in James 3:1-12, Proverbs 16:27, and Proverbs 12:18 (although, for the sake of a smooth flow, the poem credits all these sayings to the "wise young king", Solomon), I came to realize that although I would like to blame a "deadly beast" that I had no control over, the true guild lay with a lack of control over my tongue. And though the consequences of this one hasty action have lasted for years, the lessons learned are closely guarded in my heart, reminding my to bite my tongue and think before I talk.