(for Josh)
Truly, you hurt
Rocks fall in your mind and you hurt
The right ones fall
And the wrong ones lodge in the back of your mind
Like a piece of driftwood
On a comet-studded beach
Two weeks ago
When you didn’t hurt at all
But now you hurt
Truly, truly
One of the criminals kept deriding him, saying,
“Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!
Save us!”
Save us! Save me, save her, save him
(Save him
Save him
Save him)
But the other rebuked him, saying,
“Don’t you see we are condemned justly?
For we are getting what we deserve,
but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Nothing wrong?
Nothing wrong?
Truly, you wonder
Lying on wrappers at night you wonder
What I have done
What I haven’t done
What will I, the I AM, do
And what I, the I AM, won’t do
Truly, truly you’re angry
I can see that you’re angry
One moment you bless Me
And the next you are angry
Deriding Me:
“Aren’t you the Messiah?”
Aren’t you the Messiah?
The Messiah?
Messiah?
Are you there?
Truly, truly, are you there?
Here I am.
Where?
Here.
Where?
Raise your head, look over.
See me?
You’re lying on
empty wrappers too…
Yes.
Your bed looks like mine.
Yes.
Are you crying too?
Yes.
Really?
Truly.
How long have you been there?
Always.
One of the criminals kept deriding him, saying
Save yourself and us
(And him and him)
But the other said, “No. We are condemned
justly. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said,
Jesus?
Yes?
Are you still there?
Yes.
Will you remember me?
Will you remember him?
Remember us all, won’t you,
when you come into your kingdom?
Truly, I love you
Truly you hurt and truly you wonder
And truly you cry and bless and deride me and curse me
and I am here on this fading hill,
in this dying light
by the driftwood-tossed memories
and wrapper-covered beds—
LOOK, next to you, beside you, LOOK!—
I am here
To tell you truly
Truly, truly I love you
Truly, truly I tell you
today
you
you
you
will be with me
with me
with me
in Paradise
~
S.B., Aug. 6, 2020
Hidden Lake Trail, Logan Pass, Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier N.P., July 2020
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