Poem October 24, 1994 Issue

Bethesda revisited

(John 5:2–9)

Joanne Forman Otto

It could have happened
(yes ... why not?)
on any one
of those nearly fourteen thousand days
of assumed infirmity.
For what, after all,
did moving water have to do
with strength?
Strength was there,
unshackled instantly
by Christ Jesus' simple command
to rise.

And I—
in what pool of irrelevancy
(passing time, material resources, change of climate or
of mood)
have I anchored
my waiting hopes
when
even at this moment
Christ, Truth, empowers me
to rise?