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Prose in the Desert

Lord Jesus
 when You went to the desert
      and stayed those forty long days
            what was in Your Heart
                           in Your gaze?
           was it love burning bright
                   with a longing to give?
           was it silence grown loud
                    with a longing to give?

      Eternally the Father is there
            and You are there
            eternally giving   
                         and receiving
            Perhaps You entered more fully
                  away from noise of streets
                  and smell of foods
            a renewed intensity of love
                  for One who is always new

And yet I also know
      that the desert, the hunger, the tempting
      was a gift in view of me
            that you might receive the gift of me
                  and I the gift of You.
so draw me close
      and draw me away
            into the silence
            the want
            the embrace that fills and sustains.

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