old testament

(meant to be spoken aloud)

Dry dirt
enriched with the most basic of elements
yet grounded still.
The breath of God into our nostrils
LIFE!

Emerging from the ground that was,
becomes the life that is,
and we are.

Tumbling, fumbling, the first steps are taken.
A young calf, an infant child, the monarch butterfly
shaking loose the earthen cocoon.

Rise up, Oh dust of the earth, rise up and look
into the eyes of your parent, your Beginning.
He awaits your embrace, naked and clean...

yet

The years prostitute intimacy,
rebellion ensues and the course is set.
East is our destination, to the desert we go!

Languishing in heat, we burn and dry.
First the sizzle of morning bacon
then what's left?
Just leather and bones.
My eyes, my hands, why have you forsaken me?

Just bones remain, and dry bones at that
and then it happens again.
A cool west wind gently visits.

The smell familiar, the feeling faint
but the wind still blows and blows
as the sand is kicked around.

Lifting up, taking shape, pulling together,
these bones begin to dance.
The breath of God
and once again
LIFE!