First Homes

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We laughed to remember our dorm or first apartment,
  the kitchen, pinched, the bath with three doors,
  the underground windows, the tilted floors,
the gulf between our pitiful pasts and present.

But I heard wistfulness and wonderment,
  why Solomon made his splendid temple
  hark back to the tabernacle,
when God felt near as fire in a nomad's tent.

Image by Susan Rouse.
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My friends in Education for Ministry (EfM) gave me this idea with their stories and the insight about the tabernacle. See our class blog.

In the 12 waking hours since I posted this yesterday, I've revised the last five lines at least 25 ways. The pace accelerated when I read some criticism of careless meter in an essay by Dana Gioia. Once again, I find that cutting awkward phrases made room for new ones that said more of what I'd wanted to say. - WSS

Eulogy

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For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. - Lamentations 3.33

A modern miracle: a Boston funeral
streamed to Atlanta, strapped to my bike.
The deceased had assisted me once at church,
so why not give his family a "like"?

I fought headwinds through sunny parks,
Lamentations, and eulogies.
His daughter laughed through tears while gusts
roared through newly leafy trees.

The wind knocked me sideways as I heard
his life recalled by those he loved.
A miracle: how, by puffs of air
across miles and millennia, a man can be moved.

Image by Susan Rouse.
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