“How beautiful upon the mountains are

the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.”

                                    (Isaiah 52:7)

Don’t try to mend

the hole in your shoe

with fine threads and needles

when staring helplessly at you

with the desperation

of a thousand deaths.

 

Don’t give it

to the Good Will either

lest someone else’s will

be tempted to pull out

of man’s age-old toolshed

even better inventions

for radical repair.

 

Just give it up

and walk barefoot

for a time or two

-mind fixed to the Order Above-

till the wind blows to your direction

sweet intimations of the secret

-best kept yet dying to come out-

where to get new shoes

for your gospel running feet,

 

fit for a joint heir to the King of kings.

 

Youlika K. Masry

(July 9, 2009)