(Inspired by a Sunday Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Mark Stauffer)
I’ve walked many miles through the wilderness
and witnessed things strange to behold.
I’ve searched high and low for enlightenment with stories left better untold.
It seems I’ve been plodding forever, through perilous forests of sin.
The road stretches out wide before me, for this journey has yet to begin.
The sun shining bright on my shoulders, it’s blinding light scorches my skin.
This road rises further than ancient Palestine and it’s namesake so deadly within.
The bending and winding seem endless,
with many miles left to unfold.
There’s many a danger and cold-blooded stranger,
here on the Jericho Road.
These fellows that walk along side me, weren’t there just a moment ago…
and they give me a feeling like thieves up to stealing
and I shiver as if from the cold.
In a moment they sped right on by me, without turning an eye toward a soul.
Casting their gaze as if in a haze, how the rich never notice the low.
These bastions of amity truly show no humanity,
kicking dust on the dying man lying below.
The treasure they’re seeking isn’t what they are reaping,
be mindful the seeds that you sow.
The politicians, physicians, and holy men, get straight to the front of the line.
While lesser men stumble in clothes far more humble,
drowning their sorrows in wine.
I’ll travel alone on this pilgrimage;
I don’t fit into any of these robes.
Too poor to keep up with the privileged
and too clever to plod on with the slow.
It takes not the teachings of wise men
or stories from ages of old.
To know to be kind to the needy,
while walking life’s Jericho Road.
by D. Ryan Lafferty
Literary Crumbs: Poems & Short Stories to Savor by D. Ryan Lafferty 