hayardeen: tussen eufraat & tigris ~ yardeen&nijl!


It was late
in the afternoon.
The light upon the rocks turned to gold.
And I could still hear Yochanan the Baptist as he sang.
Since he knew no song, the music of his throat came forth
like the voice of a ram.


I walked with strength.
For now I was no longer like other men.
My legs took larger strides than before.
Now I knew the other man who had lived within the shell of myself,
and he was better than me. I had become that man.


A great cloud came over the sky.
There was a downpour. A raibow arose from one end
of the desert to touch the other,
and above me was the radiance of the Lord. Soon
I lay down upon the hot damp sand,
and soon I heard His voice.


He said:
"Stand upon your feet."
When I did, He told me:
"Once I spoke to the prophet Ezekiel and
he saved our people in Babylon.
Now these words given to Ezekiel are for you:
'Son of Man, I send thee to the children of Israel,
to a nation that hath rebelled against Me,
even unto this very day.
For they are impudent children and stiff~hearted.
But you will speak
My words unto them.


Since they are not
a people of a strange speech
whose words you cannot understand
but are the house of Israel,
behold!
I will make your face strong against their face.
So fear them not.'"
Then this voice said into my ear:
"Those were My words to Ezekiel. But to you I say:
You are My son, and therefore you will be mightier than a prophet.
Even mightier than the prophet Ezekiel."


I still had many hours to travel
across land I hardly knew.
Again I was full of exaltation, and again I was full of fear.
I was also weary.



The scrolls
I had studied since childhood
were not as close to me
as the words of this high Lord
my G*D,
yet now that He was near,
I could only fear Him.
For the sound of His voice
can be heard in the echo
of great rocks
when they
fall.


And I did not know
how to serve a Lord who could leave boils upon the flesh
of every man and beast in the land of Egypt and
cast hail to blight every herb of the field,
or fire in the grass until every tree
was consumed!


I raised my hands toward heaven
as if to ask whether I was truly the one to exercise His force.
And G*D said to me, "Since you are not yet strong,
do not return to you home. Go up rather into the mountain
that is there before you.
Go now. In that wilderness, fast among the rocks.
Drink the water that is beneath the rocks.
But eat no food.
Before the sun sets on the last of your days of fast,
you will know why I have chosen you."


Soon I learned of His power to protect me.
As I climbed, darkness fell and I had to share my ground
with serpents and scorpions. Yet none came near.
In the morning I climbed further and for much of the day
upward on this mountain.


And it was
worthy of the lamentations of the prophet Yeshayahu,
for one could say that the cormorant and
the bittern possessed it.


In every direction was emptiness.
On the ramparts of the rock, vultures looked down on me,
side by side, every vulture with her mate.
It was then I thought of how Yochanan the Baptist had asked,
on saying farewell:
"Did the light of the Lord appear when you were
immersed?"


Even as Yochanan's eyes stared into mine,
I had wondered if the million million of souls that I had seen
were the face of the Lord ...
But to Yochanan I said only:
"Is it not death and destruction
to see HIM?"


He replied:
"For all but the Mashiach!"
Then Yochanan said: "Once the Holy Spirit came to me.
He was so near that I put my hands before my eyes.
But the Holy Spirit said: "I will let you gaze upon My back,"
and He allowed me to see that His back was noble,
a noble back."


Then Yochanan grasped my arm.
"I have known since I was a child that my cousin
must come after me
and replace me. For my mother spoke of how your mother
told her of all
that had been with her."


Now he kissed me on both cheeks.
"I baptize with water," he said, "and can cleanse
any soul who has truly
repented, even as water can extinguish fire.
But you will baptize with the Spirit.
You will root out evil with
G*D's mercy."


And he kissed me again ...


It was hard
not to remember
the breath of Yochanan the Baptist
when he embraced me, for it was full of all that is
in the odor
of an exhausted man.


And indeed,
no matter how often one seeks water
to soothe the throat,
such an odor cannot be separated form the flesh.
A vast fatigue speaks of all that has been lost
to one's striving.


Yet
his skin
had been honest and full of the loneliness
of the desert
and its
rocks ...


And so
did he also smell of the waters
of the River Yardeen
and of the heavy wisdom
of its mud
and silt.
engel
14 sep 2004 - bewerkt op 01 feb 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
Weet je zeker dat je dit verhaal wilt rapporteren? Ja | Nee
Profielfoto van Asih
Asih, man, 81 jaar
   
Log in om een reactie te plaatsen.   vorige volgende