Ut Unum Sint: Quiet Projects for Christian Unity III

AN ARMENIAN JONAH

(copied from a 16th century Armenian illuminated hymnal)

Reluctant Jonah (redux)


Because I’m pregnant
With fire my guts ablaze;
Molten metals red and glowing
Billowing outburst
Exploding deep within;
Awakening,
Emerging,
The flight of dawn awaiting.

Of street signs
And girth and heights and lengths,
Of varying hues and portals
I was fed;
Until my mug of morning woes
Was filled to overflowing
Much more than what I ever need
As fuel for a day’s travail.

Some do know me, another few
Who love I guess;
And less than a handful, hardcore loonies
Would dare with me transgress,
The stiff and mortared walls of niceties,
To swim, and fly, rappel;
To laugh out loud and faint,
To cry before I’m dead.

And thus not with a small amount
Of excruciating pangs I wait;
My stupor state
A bait
For some monster fish to open up
and swallow me anew,
To germinate deep
Within its fishy bowels
As it transports me
Back to the Nineveh I once despised.

And when the whole enterprise
of regurgitation's done
I would,
I must,
On its sandy beach
Give birth.