And we wait

After Hebrew 11:31 and Joshua 2:1-14

And we wait.

We can hear the sounds

of the multitudes approaching,

the feet of thunder,

the shields of cracking lightning.

The city is closed, tightly.

My house, filled with family,

family who shunned me before,

my house is tightly closed.

The sign hangs from the window,

the sign of red like blood,

the sign of thread to bind.

Our lives hang by a thread,

by that thread of scarlet.

And we wait

as the sounds of thunder

circle round the city.

the noose tightening.

I see fear in the faces

around me, the soft cries

of the children,

the fear of imminent death.

I hear my mother’s quiet sob.

But the thread hangs

from the window,

binding us,

binding them.

Photograph by Circe Denyer via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.