Lent 10

 

2

 

First, though,

We must have him

In the wilderness

Forty days because forty’s

Important

 

In a place for unbelievers

(for heathens dwell upon a heath)

 

Nowhere to rest well

To drink, to bathe

To have the food that comes

From green and ready plants and trees

 

He is there, and

The wild

Must consume him

Yet he is so vast inside

He has room for it and so much more

 

The space of all the world

And the needs for which it

Cries

 

He is not alone

One other must be there

An adversary

Who must tempt the man

And the child untested

In the world

 

Make bread out of rock

Throw your tired body headlong

Into nihilism

Worship me so I can give you

Empire

Of the strong, such as

Alexander took

 

We know how it ends

Jesus cites

Adjures the tempter and

His own need

The thing must depart

The entity, the plan

(wile away another)

Angels visit angels

This act is done

There is no more to say

Or learn

Time to visit other withered places

 

C L Couch

 

 

Hotchkiss, Jedediah, 1828-1899 – https://www.civilwar.org/learn/maps/sketch-battle-wilderness-position-2nd-corps-anv-thursday-may-5th, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63245863