Poem May 30, 1970 Issue

WHAT DUST SHOOK OFF

Paul Osborne Williams

Thinking of sheep, hearing their plaintive bleat,
How many shepherds, though they turned aside
To see some scene, to muse on origins,
Then slipped back in the track, led sheep again,
And were not troubled by that different thing,
Unready for mere human vision-change?

But when that desert bush flared up in light,
What dust shook off with shoes from Moses' feet!
He, ready for God's new commanding voice,
Could let the context of past living fall,
And shook off herding, led the dormant world
Away from Egypt, trusted the promised place

Described by that initial voice—a call
That speaks today in scientific thought,
In healing's lifting fire, unconsumed.
Let us too obey this constant voice,
Transform experience at Truth's command,
In all relations seek the promised land.

Paul Osborne Williams

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Not of the Darkness
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