From Nazareth they come: a poem for the inauguration
Herman Sutter
January 1, 2021
Upon this starless night
a father lingers
His sleeping child clings
to him
Out of breath he lingers
Surely kindness will meet us here
Shoes thick with wet
his feet grow numb
He pulls his jacket tighter
Notes the buttons he has lost
His load that much lighter
Surely kindness will meet us here
The empty street is strange to him
The night grows heavy
The streetlamp grows brighter
Shifting child in his arms
still a father lingers
Surely kindness will meet us here
Beyond the lamplight barren branches
catch the shadows
whispering
How far they’ve come
yet still so far
He hears the shadows whispering
Surely kindness will meet you here
This starless night
a father lingers
as silence gathers all around
His sleeping child
clings to him
In the distance an empty sound
Surely kindness will find us here
Where shall we go
the father whispers
Around them silence gathering
Yet nothing stirs on all the earth
except the silence
gathering
No star in sight
this endless night
Only lamplight
glistening
But not a soul is listening
The empty street in darkness sinks
wordless as a prayer
Beyond this lamp there is a dawn
Surely kindness awaits us there
Herman Sutter (librarian and volunteer hospital chaplain) is the award-winning author of The World Before Grace and the blog The World Before Grace (and after). Works have appeared in Ekphastic Review, Iris, Texas Poetry Calendar, tejascovido, The Langdon Review, By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press). His comic epic, “Constance” received the Innisfree prize for poetry.
