wondering (Mark 11:11)

leaving everyone wondering,
   he wandered back to
            Bethany,
      not so much to hide,
      but to walk back
         to that open
                grave,
            simply standing
         and staring,
                his thoughts
                chasing after
            one another in his
                   heart;

finding himself across
   the supper table from
          Lazarus, while
     the sisters clattered
        around the kitchen with
     the dishes, stacking them
             for the guys
             to wash later,
       he asked
          (for the millionth
           time, or so it seemed),
   'tell me what it was like:
       the darkness like a stone
                on your chest,
          the silence wrapped
             tight around you
                  like a shroud,
       the minutes stretching out
              into eternity,
                 while you listened
                 for the feathery
                    footsteps.
          tell me again, Laz,
          was it worth it?

the waiting, I mean,
   and the wondering.'

(c) 2012 Thom M. Shuman