Is this your Lazarus?

Genesis 43:30 “Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep.” (NIV)*

Claude Monet, Weeping Willow (2) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s just as well, Joseph, that you sit alone

At a distance you can hide

The weeping that overtook your soul,

Streaked your face, blood-shot those eyes.

………………..

Oldest to youngest, there they sit

The pillars among whom you grew.

Eating and drinking of mercy’s goblet

Are you wishing, somehow, they knew?

………………..

The youngest one, your mother’s son

Carries dam breaking power.

The sight of him leaves you undone

Behind pride’s mask, you cower.

………………..

Buried hopes rise uncontrolled

Deeply moved, the years pour wet

Now before you, close enough to hold–

Once you were loved…did you forget?

………………..

To survive, you put him of your head

When life forced you apart

Raised now, as if from the dead–

He was always alive in your heart.

………………..

Hope stands innocent before you,

Dare you believe for keeps?

Is this your Lazarus, then,

The one who makes you weep?

………………..

poem by Patty Perkins

*The One Year Bible, New International Version, copyright 1986, Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.