Recalling the Bush That Burned for Me -
And How the Defining Year of My Life
Was Characterized by Chastisement
Revised for Rev. Nicolas Giannatosia
Pastor, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
U
Three decades since
I first beheld you here,
I have been chided,
Counseled
In my ways:
The loss of those I loved,
And penance paid
Have filled enough
A coffin with my days
And now,
I plainly see
The vital root
That elevates a blood
Into my leaves,
And grows out of a grace
In greater things;
And from that grace,
Its miracle receives
I know your brothers well -
I know the trees
And how a strange foreboding
Often fills a mind with
Queer amazement
And a fear,
When it is set before them in the hills
I sometimes have defied your lesson there,
When doubt denied me access unto you;
Rebelling
Not in words,
But all in deeds,
And choosing comfort
Over what is true
And thus, I kneel before you in my shame,
As you bleed sacred yellow with the sun
And wait upon Your blessing
Or the blade
Until death
Or renewal is begun.