[Title: THE SNAKE POEM READER] [Intro] Bring forth your parable. Open your mouth in a dark saying. Tell us about the snake. [Verse 1] The Snake Poem Reader came dressed in gold, with another old warning the people were told. Beautiful serpent. Pitiful plea. Open the door— come listen to me. He knew every word. He knew every turn. He knew how the trusting could finally get burned. Year after year he lifted that sign. Strange— how a man can read a mirror and never know what he finds. [Hook] SNAKE POEM READER. LIFT UP THE SNAKE. WE LIFT UP JESUS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD'S SAKE. SNAKE POEM READER. YOUR PARABLE SPOKE. WE WATCHED THE HAND WHILE YOU WATCHED THE SMOKE. You taught us: KNOW WHAT YOU LET THROUGH THE DOOR. We heard you. Now read THE SNAKE POEM once more. [Verse 2] A merchant of promises built him a throne. Sold men tomorrow that wasn't his own. Gold on the letters. Gold on the wall. Gold on the image— but gold cannot answer when Babylon falls. He cries to the labourer: Work another day! More for the kingdom! Get back in your place! But the fox has his hole and the rich man his gate, while the weary man carries the weight of the great. Tell Pharaoh we're finished with straw-counting games. We know the Good Shepherd. WE KNOW HIS NAME. [Hook] SNAKE POEM READER. LIFT UP THE SNAKE. WE LIFT UP JESUS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD'S SAKE. SNAKE POEM READER. YOUR PARABLE SPOKE. WE WATCHED THE HAND WHILE YOU WATCHED THE SMOKE. You taught us: KNOW WHAT YOU LET THROUGH THE DOOR. We heard you. Now read THE SNAKE POEM once more. [Verse 3] The serpent was subtil. That's older than kings. Older than ballots, borders, and things. It does not always hiss. Sometimes it boasts. Sometimes it promises what men desire most. "I'll make you great." "I alone." "Trust in the strength of flesh on the throne." But cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm— THERE GOES THE WHOLE GOLDEN CHARM. [Bridge] Now a dark saying for the man with the poem: What has a kingdom but never a crown? What climbs toward heaven but always comes down? What covers itself with the colour of treasure, then weighs mortal men with a rich man's measure? What points at a serpent again and again— while teaching the people to glory in men? Selah. [Break] You keep lifting the snake. Wrong thing to lift. "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." THAT IS OUR KING. [Final Hook] SNAKE POEM READER! LIFT UP YOUR SNAKE! WE LIFT UP JESUS— LET EVERY IDOL SHAKE! SNAKE POEM READER! YOUR RIDDLE IS DONE! THE SERPENT IS UNDER— WE LIFT UP THE SON! No golden man. No fleshly arm. No fear campaign. No serpent charm. "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?" [Outro] Read your Snake Poem. We have another ending. "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." The snake goes down. The kingdoms go down. The gold goes down. The flesh goes down. But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. JESUS IS THE LORD.
