until (Mark 9:2-9)

until

we see the faces

of those tossed onto

the world's garbage heaps

dazzling bright with

hope and wholeness;

until

we respect the prophets

we have been yearning for

in the hip-hopped, do-ragged

teenagers strutting

through the malls;

until

we hear God's sweet

songs of peace and reconciliation

in the mother tongues

of all we turn

a deaf ear to;

until

we catch a glimpse

of you (out of the corner

of our shut-tight eyes)

coming down off

the shelf where we store you

to enter our frayed lives;

maybe

we should have nothing to say . . .

until

(c) 2009 Thom M. Shuman