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poetree2012-05-16 08:59 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in poetree2012-05-16 08:59 pm
Christian Poetry: "His footprints" by Elizabeth Barrette
While Christianity is not one of the religions I personally follow, there are parts of it that I do like, and I have studied a fair bit of its history. I think Jesus is a pretty interesting personage and his actual teachings are a lot closer to my own ideals than most church doctrine of today. Plus of course I just like mystic poetry in general, so some of mine overlaps into this tradition. In fact it popped up as a surprise theme in one of my poetry fishbowls when I got a cluster of poems with mystic Christian motifs.
There are little hints in the Bible and other Christian lore that God isn't just for humans. God pays attention to the whole world, every bit of it, all the time. What I like about Jesus is that he's been through so much and can empathize with anything. So I wound up writing this poem about Jesus interacting with a different audience.
when Jesus walked on water,
it was never about the apostles
or the boat or the fish or the storms
it was always and only about the water,
about the Sea of Galilee itself,
about Jesus going down into the cupped hands
of the Earth to bless what was held there
as it had been made by His Father.
it was the waves who heard His sermon
as He whispered it to them while he walked,
explaining why the waters of the world
needed to be patient
with the sons of Adam
and the daughters of Eve,
that there would be a time for all lessons,
and that the waters were loved
no less than the men and the sparrows.
so the Sea of Galilee gave over
its tempest and the boatload of quivering apostles,
allowing Him to pull Peter to safety
and soothe their nervous fellows as they rowed away
and it thought,
as it carried them toward the distant shore
with its careful currents,
about what He had said to it:
that it is the slow and gentle strength of water
which makes its way through the hardest stone,
and so only patience and faith
can open a way through the soul.
these were the thoughts of the sea
as it watched the miracle unroll for its witnessing
and these are the thoughts that have remained
with it and within it down the long flow of years
ever since -- and it is quite certain,
as it lies dreaming under the pale round moon,
that it has not yet finished discovering
all that He said in that sermon.
even today, the Sea of Galilee remembers
the tender press of His warm bare feet
upon its trembling surface
as He carried the weight of the world
balanced on his slim brown shoulders
and it waits,
sighing as its waves finger the sand,
for His return.
There are little hints in the Bible and other Christian lore that God isn't just for humans. God pays attention to the whole world, every bit of it, all the time. What I like about Jesus is that he's been through so much and can empathize with anything. So I wound up writing this poem about Jesus interacting with a different audience.
His footprints
by Elizabeth Barrette
by Elizabeth Barrette
when Jesus walked on water,
it was never about the apostles
or the boat or the fish or the storms
it was always and only about the water,
about the Sea of Galilee itself,
about Jesus going down into the cupped hands
of the Earth to bless what was held there
as it had been made by His Father.
it was the waves who heard His sermon
as He whispered it to them while he walked,
explaining why the waters of the world
needed to be patient
with the sons of Adam
and the daughters of Eve,
that there would be a time for all lessons,
and that the waters were loved
no less than the men and the sparrows.
so the Sea of Galilee gave over
its tempest and the boatload of quivering apostles,
allowing Him to pull Peter to safety
and soothe their nervous fellows as they rowed away
and it thought,
as it carried them toward the distant shore
with its careful currents,
about what He had said to it:
that it is the slow and gentle strength of water
which makes its way through the hardest stone,
and so only patience and faith
can open a way through the soul.
these were the thoughts of the sea
as it watched the miracle unroll for its witnessing
and these are the thoughts that have remained
with it and within it down the long flow of years
ever since -- and it is quite certain,
as it lies dreaming under the pale round moon,
that it has not yet finished discovering
all that He said in that sermon.
even today, the Sea of Galilee remembers
the tender press of His warm bare feet
upon its trembling surface
as He carried the weight of the world
balanced on his slim brown shoulders
and it waits,
sighing as its waves finger the sand,
for His return.
no subject
Thank you!
no subject
Thank you!