YHWH reveals His heart
you read this and think I Am cruel,
uncaring in universal administration.
that I miss sparrows, miscount the hairs
remaining on My servant’s head—
the last thread he clings to. you think
he is another in a long line of prophets
who must cleave tendon from bone,
abandon family to embrace Me fully.
that no prophet has ever returned
whole, if they ever returned, if home
remained at all. it’s true. not all received
chariots, but all were honored in My way.
it was a mercy I took Moses, held him to
My breast. his eyes would never see
how red promised clay could become.
I stopped Ezekiel from all his heart
would regret giving voice. time enough to see
he would never want his wife beside him
in Babylon—no place for their unborn children.
Samuel and Daniel, Hosea and Jeremiah…for all
I graciously turned My head, pretending
not to notice the small solace taken—the slight
curve of lips—when they understood, when
in time they saw, that I also lost a Son.
Previous version published in The Windhover. Forthcoming in Promises to Keep.