Onward, onward, don't look back
For looking backward to the past
Leads to death,
A death crystalline
Mineralized atoms
Reluctance enshrined
Onward, onward on a word
Footsteps heavy, still running toward
Life ahead
A life sublime
Liquified atoms
Hope realized
Forward, forward, the desert won't last
Living water flows freely up ahead
Free to receive
Beyond your Zoar
(Why settle for this
When you'll get more?)
The salt may stick to your toes
Decaying sand from a past of woes
Get in the river
The river is safe
And more than that
It's full of grace
Grace to change and bend and break
Pillarized pain crumbles and shakes
A cooling balm against desert sun
Where past and present and future all run
Together to reveal a truth that heals deep:
Ionized regret now hydro-bonded peace
So onward, onward, go, my friend
Salt-coated eyes will see their end
The death-encased
Will break open alive
Pillars are strong
But they cannot survive—
Onward, further, do not yet retreat! —
For salt dissolves
Where living waters meet
White Sands National Park, March 2024
*...where Lot's Wife (Gen. 19:18-26) meets the Gospel.
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