By Lawrence “Mack” Hall
Word Count: 92
Rating: G
Summary: A new look at an old stranger
As Abraham was called to leave his home,
To serve one God in haunted emptiness
Where errant spirits misguided pilgrims’ steps
Into those thickets that entangled lost souls
And
As Brother Francis, barefoot in the wild,
With rock and prayer rebuilt long-fallen shrines
When they had crumbled into weed-choked ruins
Where wolves gnawed on the bones of civilization
Now
An old man riding in a city bus,
Wearing spectacles and a cheap wristwatch,
Has come to see us through the wilderness,
And enkindle for us the Easter fire.