Poem- Desert Voyage

I Kings 19:4,7,8
He went a day’s journey into the desert…The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is long.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he travelled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.



Desert Voyage

We need the Well and the Desert,
if 'Well' be hope and trust
and 'Desert' be waiting.
I wish I had a well,
an artesian well,
a reservoir for the desert

A desert has its own beauty:
simple line, subtle colour, texture.
And living things with roots that go
deep, deep, deep, into the earth
and store in themselves their own sustenance.

But I need the angel
who gives bread for the journey.
Sometimes it is a long way
before we see green valleys
and quiet streams-
it can be 40 days or 40 years,
or 3 days after the cock crows.