A rose is a rose

Is a rose

The name of the game

Is the same

When displayed

At the base level

Of plain pornography

Or raw erotica

The name of the game

Is the same

When portrayed

In the intemperate consumption

Of feel high stimulants, intoxicants

And narcotics

The name of the game

Is the same

When played out

At football matches

Rock music festivals

Massage parlours

Movie theatres

And feel good, ecstatic church services

The name of the game

Is the same

When expressed

In narcissistic obsession

With waistlines and bust lines

The name of the game

Is the same

Or when exposed

In the vain pursuit

Of wealth and affluence

Power and prestige

The name of the game

Is the same.

Self-indulgent persons

Are pitifully entrapped

In the sensation centre

Alienated

From the nucleus of meaning

Homeless, rootless

And hopeless

The resultant emptiness

Precipitates

And detonates

The carnal quest

That is well neigh

Insatiable

The absence

Of the Divine Love experience

Of transcendence

So painfully prevalent

In our day

Has elevated and consecrated

The carnal quest

And condemned many

To the pathetic pursuit

Of physical sensation without measure

They must serve the life sentence

Of perpetual worship

At the altar of vanity and futility

Save by the prerogative of mercy

Available in Jesus the Christ.