Without Your Spirit I Am Weak

(Samson)

If my mother’s barren womb

was brought back to life

to make way for me,

the chosen one foretold

by an angel

with a wonderful unspoken name,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If I face off with a vicious lion

blocking my path

and with my bare hands

rip its body in half,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If I speak in riddles and rhymes

and trick out my threads

to make others bow

while behind my back

they want to plow with my own cow

until I plow them down,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If I go to lay with my new fam

only to find her there

with my best man,

so I let loose the fire fox

and scorch the land,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If my brothers should betray me

with their own hand

and I shatter these ropes

like fragile glass to crumbled sand,

and with this mouth of an ass

I destroy my enemies

to the thousandth man,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If I rip down the heavy gates

of the protection you seek

and carry them up a mountain

and just out of their reach,

but I don’t have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

If I surrender my heart to a woman

and slumber deeply

in her warm embrace,

and I tell her my secrets

to save face

while she rides my case,

then clips away my strength

in the strands

of my seven braids interlaced,

and my vengeful eye

is gouged out

in sheer disgrace,

I no longer have your spirit, God…

I am weak.

Let me give my life

for you, dear God,

because you are the source

of my true strength.

— Jesse Lee 11/26/2025