Third Thursday of Advent

Read Isaiah 9:18 - 10:4

        still

will you come
    with your arm outstretched
        to stop the right and the left
        from devouring each other,
            so they might feed
                all whose stomachs
                are tightened from
                    true hunger?

will you come
    reaching out
        to take down
        the widows' heads
        mounted on den walls,
            replacing them with
            a picture of your beloved
                Teresa?

will you come
    gathering up
        the orphans on display
        in the trophy
                    cases,
            sending them out
            to make angels in the
                snow?

will you come
    to snatch
        slander out of our
                    mouths,
     smearing the sweet
            balm of kindness
        on our chapped lips?

still,
    come.

© 2010 Thom M. Shuman