Exhaling

As much as I’d like to dig deeper into Mary and myrrh, we’ve got three more sonnets to go to finish up these “Seven Sonnets Through the Dark.” So, here’s a new one to ponder:

In nocte consilium
(the night brings counsel)
“I rise before the dawn and cry for help, I hope in your word.
My eyes watch through the night to ponder your promise.” Psalm 119

On this craggy precipice, hope-bare heart in hand,
Gazing east through arid pathlessness,
I brace my battered faith in Promised Land
With touchstones of Your love and changelessness.
We must be freely emptied to be filled,
And a ruptured heart’s capacity’s increased;
Our hearts furrowed for mercy by acceptance of our guilt,
As darkness defines light and fasting feast.
I peer beyond familiar stone into the endless space
That is Your love, and all that’s good and just,
And I know the proving desert is sheer grace –
From the cliff I freefall empty-handed, and I trust.
When our orientation to earth we release,
we are oriented to Heaven, and we find peace.