Preparing for Exams
Who is it that calls with dusty voices from out of these
Pages ancient and new; alive with mystery?
You who ask me to stand vigil at the bedside
To eat the fruit of my fear and my longing.
The gift is not yet won.
Reading the myriad stories of women and men;
Watching over their lives and their deaths.
You have provoked me with my own deepest desires
But how can I heal the broken and lifeless,
The tired eyes, the slow tongues,
The drunk, the lonely, the weary ones?
Your touch, your work, your love in my hands
Your love in my eyes and on my lips
Your presence shining from the haunting eyes
Of the sick and the dying.
I will drink in these precious lives. I will turn the page.
I will lift up my eyes and struggle on.
For the God of my hope and my joy and my
Secret thrilling at the mysteries I have
Chosen to watch over will summon my
Spirit to flow out of me like light from an overfilled cup.
A shining wave that washes over the weary world
And unearths the truth and the courage and the
Hope and the glory and the unfailing love that
Bursts forth with a shout like a
Child from the womb.