Scattered

After Nehemiah 1:1-11

Scattered across geographies

and boundaries, moved

beyond rivers and seas,

the exiles wander in memory

of a reality lost, forced and torn

away. The memory is of stones

and flowers, of winding ways

and streets, alleys filled with

the shouts of merchants and priests,

children calling out their games,

of sounds of horses and cows herded

with the sheep, and the quiet of houses,

homes behind walls.        

It is all a memory now,

waiting to become a hope.

Photograph by Lode Van de Velde via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.