[Ezekiel 34.15-16]
The diagnosis, the procedure,
the boss’ memo, the suicide,
the lonely corridor.
I will shepherd you.
The God who vanished into a question,
the way you can’t find,
the path through the tangled thorns.
I will seek the lost.
Addicted, shamed, incarcerated,
unforgiven, violent,
over-busy, despairing.
I will bring back the strayed.
Memory of abuse, ache of loss,
heart a cracked empty jar,
forty pound bag of fear.
I will bind up the injured.
The difficult meeting,
the ones who wound,
your daughter’s treatment.
I will strengthen the weak.
How much longer can you do this?
How will it end?
How do you know?
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep.
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep.
—November 21, 2017