One In a Hundred
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Luke 15:4,5
Like the pulse of the metronome
she falls soft into the cadence
of an undulating hip,
allowing the tick and tempo
to guide her.
With glazed-over eyes
she peers in the mirror
recalling five o'clock shadows
milling her cornflower cheeks
to dust—
leaving the chaff for the wind.
She knows hard weathered hands,
and the swollen grate
at the arch of her back.
Sweat covers her
like a membrane,
crushing her chest.
Life grinds between her teeth.
She is a lamb
captured in thorns,
shorn of her warmest parts
which lie heaped
in corners of her.
Soft bleats score the night air,
woeful sighs blister the wind
in rapid call
to the Shepherd.
He pricks His ear
and races swift-footed,
to wrest her from the snare.
Rejoicing, and with easy grace
He gathers her up
round His shoulder.
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Luke 15:4,5
Like the pulse of the metronome
she falls soft into the cadence
of an undulating hip,
allowing the tick and tempo
to guide her.
With glazed-over eyes
she peers in the mirror
recalling five o'clock shadows
milling her cornflower cheeks
to dust—
leaving the chaff for the wind.
She knows hard weathered hands,
and the swollen grate
at the arch of her back.
Sweat covers her
like a membrane,
crushing her chest.
Life grinds between her teeth.
She is a lamb
captured in thorns,
shorn of her warmest parts
which lie heaped
in corners of her.
Soft bleats score the night air,
woeful sighs blister the wind
in rapid call
to the Shepherd.
He pricks His ear
and races swift-footed,
to wrest her from the snare.
Rejoicing, and with easy grace
He gathers her up
round His shoulder.