Could they see the sea
feel the boat bend the land?
Do they hear pounding footfalls
feel the coarse scrape,
wayward elbows brush sand,
those borne on pallet?
Shared hope of sacrifice
eclipses beauty of either sea or sail
Jesus did not heal in isolation.
Those who had been brought
engage this One, atrophied limbs lifted
to beseech the fabric of wholeness.
The healer Jesus
disembarks
and the land vibrates.
Runners
with resounding echo,
cadence of hope.
Brought begets beauty
in surging tide of need and service.
Tended rope-this
its braid lifts all eyes one inch
to the fraying hem
of Jesus’ garment.
jfig 3/2020
Roasted Words 