July 3rd

“The snares of death encompassed me;
   the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
   I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
   “O LORD, I pray, save my life!” Psalm 116:3-4

it isn’t as dramatic
as it is in movies—
just the thread of life
unraveling like a sweater
picked at by a bored child
when they think no one
is paying any attention.
and those pangs?
not like being wrapped
in dungeon’s chains,
but that vise which
slowly squeezes hope
out of us as we sit across
from the doctor.
and yet,
with that breath that was
lying there in the bottom
of our empty souls,
we can offer our
scattered, stumbling,
out-of-the-depths-honest
words which you gather up
and in response, offer grace
breaking in as swift as light
on creation’s very first morning.

© 2025 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman