The Savior (A Longing)

In a forest by a brook

Sat an old man on a stump,

Sat an old man in a thought, 

Sat an old man with a cane.

The cane was from those trees

Sheltering so well the man

As he thought of those days

Passing by.

This same forest had provided 

Welcome shelter for the boy 

In his now forgotten troubles

Or remembered as a sweet

Time of innocence

Which created wisdom.

The trees now sat 

Unchanging 

Seemingly

The brook dancing lightly by

As it always had before. 

Its laughing seemed to echo

The boy's childhood

Now gone

And even the rare camp

Preciously guarded from friends.

And as the wind rustled leaves

It recollected the girl

The first girl to grace this land

With sweet romantic love.

A gust blew through,

And with it sounds of four 

Toddling steps into Father's open arms

The Father wishing,

praying

For Child's wisdom to multiply

Beyond, 

Far beyond

The small steps his parents could provide.

And soon more siblings played

In God's loving, gentle arms of

Rough barkand soft leaves and flowing water.

And just as quickly as they came,

So now they disappeared

From the picnics by the brook. 

Occasionally new childrens voices

Brightened the air, already so 

Sweet with memories.

And those too fell away 

One 

By one. 

The bitter mingled as 

The news came one day that

The first Child of the man 

Couldn't be reached but by 

Heaven's own 

Slow-approaching door. 

Years passed and the wood lay

Quiet and lonesome

Perfect and pristine

Changing seasons

Unknown and unseen

Awoken only by fresh tears for

The woman, gone home to her Son and her Heavenly Father. 

Breath

Now fills the clearing

The man's lungs and those

Of beautiful nature. 

These final breaths, 

Murmered in the peaceful

Trees and Brook.

Light streams

Down upon the brool and the bushes.

Through the trees

Around the man

The light grows 

Brighter

As the world around darkens.

The man now sees he is not alone.

And rising to greet

Like a long-awaited Friend

The Man sleeps in 

The Arms of 

The Savior.