Kairos

I realize that about 13 years ago, I wrote a poem which pretty much expresses what I said in my last post.

Kairos

You stepped out of the lake

From whence I do not know,

You, eternity straining against clay

treasure glinting through the cracks

like the brightness of a lamplight

refusing not to glow.

You did the unthinkable:

You lived and You died,

passing through the darkness of a womb,

then a tomb.

And You burst out of both,

for neither could contain You.

You gladdened the world for such a short time.

Then You left through the sky,

and it swallowed You up whole,

leaving desolate hearts

and wistful eyes

wishing to wrench themselves out of these broken bodies

and fling themselves up,

fly,

follow You into endless blue.

Now peering through the glassy surface

of the lake

that reaches somehow

beyond grassy reeds and muddy crabs,

back into Your world,

I long

for more than these sandy pebbles at the bottom

or my own disappointing reflection

that glances back with mortal eyes

and nothing more

How can I pierce Your depths

when my sweeping cosmos

is but Your puddle,

my shining stars

the smallest glimmer in Your eyes?

Oh, that I might stretch up immortal arms

reach through the heavenly waters,

wiggle yearning fingers,

and be pulled home!

Oh, that You might come down

and bring real life

crashing into lives

that cannot contain You

One day I will plunge quietly into Your world

immerse myself in eternal gladness of soul

swim through a dark funnel

navigate the narrow entry

and reach the widening into the grandness of light

or one day, You will plunge into mine

with glory beyond all imaginings

Come, shatter my world

in a splendid collision

of eternity and time

the human and divine

like three dimensions pouring into the flat mirror;

stuff a universe into a goldfish bowl

and hear the marvelous crack

as it all comes apart

like an egg

giving way

to life

Either way

one day

I will see You

face to face

and drink in Your gaze

like a drowning man hungering for breath

I will swallow

thirsty not for wetness

but for liquid You

Spring up in me,

living waters,

saturate my cells,

You who cannot be contained.

Leak out my pores

deluge my veins

burst out of tongue, and heart, and mind

like goodness unrestrainable,

holiness run wild.

More than a desperate glimpse in swirling pools

shadow in a glass darkly

an elusive whisper

or a trailing of my hand in water

Give me an eternal wetting through and through

of You

Jesus, may Your world swallow up mine

as a great fish gobbles

a crumb

            or a man

Let my river

run into

and be lost in Your sea

            like a lover in his beloved’s eyes

May my yearning moth ever haunt your flame

May Your fire consume my withered bush

My branch, ever cling to Your bountiful vine

            Your vine, pour out the wine of joy.

My joy, rejoice in You and You alone.

Be You, my Kairos, here and now.

September 26, 2000