Messenger

From Ann Glover O’Dell’s Midwifing the Soul:

The messenger arrives

to tell the laughter

and those who bother

listening regard him

as some street-smart

stand-up comic

and muffle chuckles

at absurdities he declares

and shares

more personal examples

than they care to hear.

He goes in search of faith groups

but they are telling their theology

each to each as memorized

from ragged texts of faded ink.

He goes in search of children

and they pretend to hear

but he observes them

playing rhyming games

with words he speaks.

He goes in search of kin

and scarce does utter simple phrase

but finds himself derided

for his clothes and style

of hair and questioned

on current war debate.

Retreating to his chamber

relishes delight

remembering

the banquet he enjoyed as

honored guest

and apologizing to his Lord

he offers sorrow

that no one wished to hear

about the feast prepared

especially for them.

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