Eshtine

He was changed

He said to me,
"Come up the mountain with me."
Said it to Peter, to James,
He said it to me.
We climbed the mountain.
I climbed the mountain.
And he was changed.

I had never seen white.
Wool is grimed with dust,
Snow is mixed with ash.
Beyond the glare of dirty sun
He shone.
His clothes shone.
His face...
Oh.
His.
His face.

Standing with him:
Moses and Elijah,
As I might have stood
With Peter, with James,
If we could stand.
(But we couldn't stand.)
Just men with a man,
Just talking.

You say:
"How did you know?"
Did you know the faces
Of the long, long dead?
How did you know the lawgiver?
How did you know the prophet?"

I say:
I knew.
I knew them as who they were.
Like in a dream,
You know your friends in a dream,
Though you may never see their faces.

So with Moses and Elijah.
So well did I know them
I squeeze it to nothing
If their names are all I say.

But he--
He will say my name
And I hear in it
How well he knows me:
Like I am the dream he dreamt.

A cloud passed over.
He stood alone.
He touched Peter and James.
He touched me.
"John," he said.
"Get up."

Posted by eshtine at May 29, 2002 07:03 PM