A devout man trembles

After Acts 9:9-19

He is a devout man,

known for being so,

known for following 

the law, known to those

of the old faith and

of the new, respected.

He hears his name 

called, in a vision, 

and his response is 

what one expects from 

a devout man: here

I am, Lord. He is told

of the man blinded,

sitting in a house

in a street called Straight,

waiting. He knows a man

named Ananias will come,

a man named Ananias

will lay hands on him,

restoring his sight.

This man, this devout man,

knows without being told who

this blind man is, knowing 

what he’s been sent to do.

This devout man is told to go

to the blinded man, the man

who will have a mission

of carrying the name

to the world, a mission

of great suffering.

This man, this devout man,

obeys and goes to lay 

his hands on the blind man.

And he calls the man

his brother.

Photograph by Elia Pellagrini via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Blinded by the light

After Acts 9:9-19

Blinded by the light,

he is brought to a house

in the street called Straight,

perhaps because the others

were all crooked or curved. 

He sits and waits, three days,

eating nothing, drinking nothing,

a severe fast of three days,

three days of death and darkness.

He has a vision, a single vision,

of a man called Ananias come

to him and lay hands on him

to end the darkness. 

On the third day, a man

named Ananias comes to him.

A man named Ananias calls him

brother, the first to call him that,

implying he is changed and reborn.

The man lays his hands upon him, 

telling him he is sent by the voice

heard on the road to heal the blindness

of his eyes and the blindness 

of his heart. 

The scales fall away,

the blindness is dispelled,

the baptism is performed.

And so ended the third day.

Photograph by Jp Valery via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Witnesses to the light

After Acts 9:7-8

They traveled with him,

north to the city, traveled

with this man full of anger,

ready to wield the sword

of authority to capture

and destroy. They see 

the light, as he does, 

they see him fall, 

they hear the voice,

as he does, the voice

within the light, the voice

he knows, as they do,

for to hear it is to know it,

a voice without a body,

a voice from heaven.

They hear the questions,

the answers, the command;

they see him rise and stagger,

and they know the man

with the clear, focused eye

is now blind, and they take

his hand and lead him

to the city.

Photograph by Casey Horner via Unsplash, Used with permission.

The original for which all the others are named

After Acts 9:3-6

The walls and buildings of Damascus

are in sight, the next step in the journey

to destroy the heresy about to be made,

the self-gratification about to intensify,

when the original light from which all others

derive, the original voice from which

all others are heard, the original experience

from which aa others will follow,

happen.

First, the blinding light from heaven,

so blinding and so stunning that he falls

to the ground.

Second, the calling of his name, twice.

Third, the question, the accusation, 

a statement of truth: why 

do you persecute me?

Fourth, the response, also a question 

one that understands and anticipates 

the answer: who are you, Lord?

Fifth, the answer, another statement

of truth: the one you persecute,

the One identifying with the many.

Sixth, the command, go to the city

and wait to be told what to do.

Photograph by Ray Fragapane via Unsplash. Used with permission.

When one stoning is not enough

After Acts 9:1-3

He stands, holding the cloaks

of the rock throwers, nodding

in affirmation as stone after stone

hits chest, hits face, hits arm,

hits head, and the zealot collapses

in death. Heresy and error cannot

be ignored; it must be pounded

into insignificance. He seeks and

receives letters, recommendations

and authorizations, to smash

the heresy in other places,

destroy it, wipe it out. Letters

of arrest and imprisonment,

fill-in-the-blank for names, 

in hand, he travels north

on the Damascus Road,

unsmiling, grim visage, 

Torquemada without the sense

of humor, thirsting to find,

thirsting to bind, hungering

to destroy. Anticipating

the adulation of man,

the last thing is the blinding

flash of light from God.

Photograph by Stephen Leonardi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Non-Lament

He appeared to me last

not saving the best

but saving the worst

he appeared to me last.

To meet him wasn’t

sufficient

to blind me was

necessary

He blinded me

so I could see,

I could not see

before the blindness.

My sight was imperfect.

Once you have seen,

all sight is imperfect.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.