DUST AND ASHES

There is just something about pure milk

In the morning.

A tall glass

As white as snow.

Untainted by coffee

Or cereal flakes

Or chocolate.

There is just something about the taste

So familiar, yet unfamiliar.

All of it

The same consistency

On my tongue

And in the back of my throat

And in my stomach.

 

There is just something about His word

In the morning.

A tall glass

As white as snow.

Because when I read the word

I read:

                If someone says,

                “I love God,”

                And hates his brother,

                He is a liar;

                For he who does not love his brother

                Whom he has seen,

                How can he love God

                Whom he has not seen?  —1 John 4:20

 

And I drew a line in the dust and ashes

With the tip of my blade

Between myself and my brother

And I watched to see to which side

My Lord stepped.

Because when I read the word

I read:

                And the world is passing away,

                And the lust of it;

                But he who does the will of God

                Abides forever.  —1 John 2:17

 

There is just something about the pure milk

Of the word.

Like a newborn baby

I cry out,

O LORD!

Like Job

I cry out:

                “I have heard of You

                By the hearing of the ear,

                But now my eye sees You.

                Therefore I abhor myself,

                And repent in dust and ashes.”  —Job 42:5-6