On the shore

After John 21:1-19

They’re back where they started,

back to what they know, the familiar,

the routine of fishermen, 

back to where the light began,

back before the light began,

doing what they know to do:

fish.

And on the shore, a man asks

if they have fish, if they have a catch.

When they say no, he gives them

a strange command, to cast on the right,

as if some landlubber knows how to fish,

right?

They cast the net, to prove him wrong.

They cast the net and pull,

but strain to haul the laden net,

filled with its multitudes of fish. And

they look at the man on the shore.

What they could not do on their own,

they did after he spoke, after

they listened.

Photograph by Tim Motivv via Unsplash. Used with permission.