NACC main page | Vision main page | Vision archives | Submit an article | Contact | About Vision | Search
Vol. 22, No. 1
Be sure to read David Orr's Seeking/Finding article
"To be a healing force for the poor, no matter the
changing healthcare landscape," also in this issue.
I knock.
“Come in,” you say.
I enter, knees knocking.
Depressed, angry,
abrupt, impatient,
unkempt, dirty, smelly—
words they used
to describe you.
Bread, wine,
water, feet washer
life, light—
words they used
to describe him.
You stare. I wait.
“What’s going on?”
Silence.
“How are you?”
Silence.
“You want a visit?”
You shrug. I sit.
You turn. I wait.
“Bad heart.
Need a new one.”
I wait.
“Waited too long.
Put it off.”
I wait.
“Knew I was sick.
Could not afford it.
Hospitals are
too damned expensive.
I waited—too late.”
In silence, I wait.
At last, you speak—
of fishing the river with your son
of taking walks when you could run
of building bridges, one by one
of skipping rocks on sparkling water
of stopping, to help turtles cross
of deciding not to hunt again
instead, to let the least little thing live on
even ants and insects in your home
on and on
until finally,
you decide
to live
for those you love
and who love you.
And so,
you offer them your heart
let them reach inside
to make in you a new heart
with batteries and wires
that you will carry now
outside
to breathe
to live
to keep on loving
and to feel
love.
And I,
praying now,
hear footsteps
on water
see angels gather
round another man
about to suffer
who needs to be
carried
who loved water
who fished and walked
who built bridges
and cared about
the least little thing
and whose own heart
was pierced
poured out
for you, for me
to breathe
to live
to keep on loving
and to feel
love.
And,
as I leave,
angels whisper
yet again:
“A new heart
I will give you,
and a new spirit
I will put within you;
and I will remove
from your body
the heart of stone
and give you
a heart of flesh.”
© 2011 David M. Orr
Printable version