Ash Wednesday

A Lenten poem.

God is gone into the desert
'Mid the jagged rocks and the sand
Where the lizard lies under the rock
And the heat haze hangs over the land;
He furrows His brow 'gainst the sun
And wanders with purposeful plod.
Begins now in dry desolation
The long Lenten fast of God.

God is gone into the desert;
Alone He sits for love.
The Bread of Life will not cause
Any manna to fall from above.
No water will burst from the rock,
But He treads where His people once trod,
Redeeming the steps of His fathers
In the wilderness wand'ring of God.

God is gone into the desert,
And those who would follow Him, are.
They go armed with self-denial,
Led on by a new Shekinah;
'Neath cross-emblazoned brows,
Ten thousand faces nod,
Winding their way through the wasteland
In imitation of God.