a poem about the journey

peace

first, there was the mountain.

what a thing! to scale the sheer cliff of your own doubt

gravel lodged beneath your broken fingernails.

but. you mastered it, you stood, bruised and triumphant

knees bloodied by the sharp rocks of unbelief that you had to climb over.

you stood in faith, God all around you.

you drove your flag into the ground.

from the mountain top, you could see everything spread out before you

the whole world, the silver river threading it all together

the path was hidden by thick jungle, but you knew it was there

heading toward the sun, the distant hills

you saw flowering trees as if for the first time,

a new pounding in your heart. the urge to continue on, to run.

but at the bottom. the bottom. a different story

the path stretches out before you. you walk,

sticky face, old eyes, the air from the forest threatening

to close you in. the sudden flight of a flock of birds terrifies you in

the stillness. you can't see above the canopy.

for a few steps in front of you the path is clear. the rest is hidden.

the way seems closed

but you're not alone. the new presence lives under your skin.

and with every step you hear a clicking in your heart, feel an opening to light,

warm breath on you, the clear piece of blue sky visible through the tops of branches even

as you fight through thorns duck unforgiving branches.

God in you, the song that fills you and pulls you onward.

what is this? you think. the path goes on and on,

through forest, jungle, desert, as years peel off you like bark

sloughing from a tree. the song inside you so loud now,

it is part of your cells, you cannot stop moving, you must

walk as it tells you to go, but still. what is this?

you didn't know it would take so long to reach the hills,

to find the place where the sun meets the world.

maybe, you realize. maybe this is it.

one day you will get there, but now. here.

you walk. the music so strong in your veins it pounds the ground beneath your

feet, it stirs up old seeds, they come to life, they breathe and spring into

flowers in the places your feet have touched,

the warm breath around you stirs the forest alive, the sky comes to meet you

as you walk on, pieces of blue fitting inside you like parts of a puzzle,

and you feel peace that is beyond the journey, beyond understanding,

peace clearer than the sky filled with stars.

Jesus with you on the journey, Jesus somewhere on ahead.

this is it, you think. this is it.