The water of Jesus
Hope springs eternal, Pope observed.
A blessing, a heavenly confirmation.
But, one day, the teachings suggest,
we shall grow weary of it.
Faintly odious it'll become,
oily, brackish on the tongue,
and lose its allure, just another meaningless
babble for our ears to endure.
We'll see it as a substitute,
a tainted approximation of the Living Water.
One day its grip shall loosen; we'll let it slip
downstream through our prayer-cupped hands.
We'll lose our way, one day, to that well,
so that we might find another, taking freely
the water of Jesus, springing up also
in the human breast - of life everlasting.
We'll partake of that water, o seekers,
and never thirst again.
O child of God, whosoever will, let him come
and take freely the Water of Life.
Brian-- I really liked this poem. I haven't read the other-- somehow I need to read one poem at a time... Hope is an interesting complex topic. One famous rabbi said, Above all, we are forbidden to give up hope (this is a wild paraphrase, but he was a mystic, very respected). In Buddhist teachings, they say start with no hope. No expectations. The ground of hopelessness, just letting things be as they are.... It's interesting how you see hope as somethng that gives way to the greater reality.... In the 4th couplet, I think you need to lose the comma after "and". Thanks for your work!
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