Your side of the river

Your side of the river                                                                     

You back me up against the river

and I have to herd my sensibilities

toward Your still waters, make my way back

to the heartland, the fertile soil and furrowed ground.  

I know that other territory well – across the river,

that dark wild which can feel like truth;

the black depths of the exhausted quarries.

You drive me to the river and leave me there,

to find my own way back. 

Up against Your silence,

my interrogations come to naught,

the compromises all on my side

Your orthodoxy and improbabilities

without pretext left unexplained

and yet I cling to You ever more tightly

and praise You for my half-filled cup

on this extraordinary path I reluctantly,

at times, traverse on Your side of the river.

O child of God, conviction is a gift of the Master.

Faith, in the interim, is an offering of the lover.