The Undoing of a Pharisee

Today I passed a man who carried within him
What I could not see, could not touch

As he came near, my eyes met his
And I glimpsed another world,
The realm of a heart unfamiliar to
The laws of my nature

“That’s the one!” they said
“The one who causes trouble”
And, indeed, my heart was troubled
By the world within his eyes

At night, when eyes shine less brightly,
I came to him for… I don’t know what
Anything?
And he offered me the unimaginable

I could not understand his words,
But my soul reached out for the unseen,
My spirit awoke from the sleep of death,
My heart convulsed and came alive

I left his presence that night,
Well, I did and I didn’t,
For what do you say when the eternal
Is born into temporal eyes?

I walked away, but his world came with me,
His Kingdom infinite and present, myself entirely undone

Based on the story of Nicodemus (John 3)

© 2018 Jacqueline Tisthammer. All Rights Reserved.