jaded predictions into a young
pastor’s portrait. Each sitting brushed
telling layers onto the covered canvas
telling layers onto the covered canvas
keeping its secret week to week.
Unveiled, the easel revealed
in detail how twenty years
would finish the man.
Fifty years in his chosen
vocation hasn’t erased the warning
framed and stretched. Waiting, closeted,
it's an amulet, an antidote, a ready
remedy if Botox unexpectedly
tries to inject his soul
with apathy.
with apathy.
His smile spilled a papa’s
patriarchal blessing over our
waiting heads. Laugh lines cracked
open around his eyes bestowing love and
benediction. We face our future now
with goodness and mercy following
us, leavings left by a warrior
poet whose life proves
the portrait wrong.
with goodness and mercy following
us, leavings left by a warrior
poet whose life proves
the portrait wrong.
Lucky him, lucky you, lucky me.
Coming down from the mountain has been difficult. The Image Seminar at Whitefish with Eugene and Jan Peterson was truly epic. He didn't merely write The Message, they live The Message. Greg read a piece called Born, Again and Again. It describes the entire experience perfectly. If I told the backstory for this poem, you would need to take your shoes off. Be content to ponder it with me, for I mustn't speak of the sacred just yet.
8 comments:
I'd like to know more.
And look at what you've accomplished with this poem!
we shall ponder...
I am trying to be content....sounds awesome!
Eugene had a different take on the word lucky. I will exchange it and trade it for fortunate and blessed from here on out. Reclaim it, for goodness sake.
Then I am lucky to have read your poem.
Miss Kathleen, ever since I became a Believer, "luck" and "coincidence" have taken flight and landed on foreign shores.
Your words sing! Thanks for leaving us dangling our feet in the water, it's a grande place to be.
Blessings.
What a wonderful poem, thanks for sharing.
This sounds like a wonderful experience, Kathleen. It's always hard to return to the valley after a mountaintop experience. But fruit grows in the valley, and it looks like some new things are already taking growing.
I'm excited to hear more, when (or if) you're ready to share those holy moments from the mountain.
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