Tikkun olam

Adventus (On Isaiah 64)

30 Nov 2009 1 Comment

by Marvin Lance Wiser in Church - Theologizing, Poetry Tags: Advent, adventus, hope, Isaiah, Isaiah 64:1, theological poetry

People scurry here and there

walking briskly, more times than not, aimlessly against,

not recognizing that for which they long.

In the cities it is this way.

We keep walking.

She cuts more cebolla to put in the caldo,

beans and tortillas are in the air- kilos used to weigh so much more

when he was here,

her son now ill, she thinks, a la chingada con el dinero

Oh, that you would rend the fence and come across!

She keeps stirring.

Snow falls outside the fourth floor window,

She squeezes his hand ever so tightly

For this I have waited

push, push, one, two, three,

push, push, one, two, three,

Oh! That you would rend my womb and come out!

She keeps pushing.

So many peoples have sojourned atop of me,

so much sludge now fills my crevices,

fences with barbed wire now line my skin, my greenery scribbled upon and carelessly tossed-

Nothing can be thrown away. Everything Is.

Is not my blood precious- that which sustains your life?

Oh! That you would rend the heavens and come down!

She keeps praying.

I work three jobs just to keep out of poverty

I long for my wife to be with me,

but she’s an alien you see

as was I, though unlike she, illegal.

Undocumented. Without meaning. That which truly does not exist, or cannot/should not support others that exist. A denial of life.

This I know, this I share.

In this season may you find the life that you have been longing for.

Keep stirring and

crossing,

pushing and

coming out,

longing and

being,

praying,

and most of all we keep walking, until we find it together- the other.

~mlw