A discarded woman is brought back to life by Jesus at the still point of despair as he offers her a love she has never known.
In shameful fear she waits till, in the heat
she skulks to find the shadows where she’ll lie.
In hidden sadness, house to well, not meet
the sneers or shouts or hatred in their eye.
But now her veil of calm is torn away,
a stranger sits and watches her approach.
His look she cannot read, and yet He stays –
no normal words of anger or reproach.
He asks, He listens, lets her speak her thoughts.
She feels years of abuse turn tail and flee.
A hope unbidden rises from her core.
He speaks the miracle: ‘Yes, I am He’.
She leaves her water jug and, fleet of foot,
she rushes back renewed this five times wife.
Knocks on the doors that normally slam shut,
‘Come, meet the one who brought me back to life.’
They come but do not know He soon will feed
a hunger, which they do not know they hold.
He offers water, bread and, in their need,
this shepherd draws each sheep within his fold.
Fr Mark Skelton is a priest of the Plymouth Diocese, a poet and has always had a keen interest in the interface between Literature and Theology.
