Poem January 18, 1999 Issue

Who is this man?

William L. Oakes

"There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water:
Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink."

Who is this man
asking for a cup of cold water?
See John 4:1–29 . Can't he see the well is deep
and the day unbearably hot?
Doesn't he see this is not his neighborhood
and we his kinsmen not?

Who is this man
who brings so little to the well,
expecting me to share my dipper?
And now he says if I had asked for his "water"
I could have
a supply forever.

Who is this man
who lifts my thought of water
as not sustaining life but
as Life sustaining me?
His words flow past my resistance,
purging, enabling me to see.

Who is this man
who in quenching "thirst" cleanses a murky heart?
He knows my past, but implies it's not my future.
Dare I drink from his well, accept his infinite plan,
and find out just
who is this man?

William L. Oakes

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