Jesus Naked in a Sacred Circle

JESUS NAKED IN A SACRED CIRCLE

Michael Coffey

You are my beloved son said

the father into his wet ears

as he came up out of Jordan mud water

out of chaos out of death out of yesterday

only to be whooshed off into tomorrow

still dripping and cold shocked and gasping

into wilderness where if he survives and is hardened

if he resists if he lets go if he inhales spirit

temptation will come like a pesky fly

and a mere slow hand wave will move it along

and gut growls will teach him to hunger

and parched dry throat to thirst

for all the right things in the right way

and not fear the hunger the thirst the teaching

the unfinished business that cannot be perfected

in this life not in time not in space not in body

so I wonder as he sat in his sacred circle naked

and let the wild beasts teach him and holy messengers tend him

did he know the wilderness was only the beginning

and everything after would tempt him all over again

to safety to comfort to grasping after certitudes

when God would only offer silence

on the road in the garden on the bloody hillside

in the cry in the abandonment in the false hope

did he know this during the forty days

or did he imagine he would find an easier path

perhaps work for a down payment on a Nazarene cottage

and whittle toys in the evening by the fire

sitting there whistling an old tune

as a fly lands on his cheek and will not move