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tell me of the fear
for I know it too
I know the darkness intimately
and the open doors
and the thresholds
and the infinite
though I know only so much

remind me of the trembling
but I know that too
the shaking in my boots
the falling on my face
finding supplication
hoping against hope
wanting, wanting, wanting
I so know those chains
for they embrace me

this is where I do theology
I begin with weeping
and self satisfaction
I end with inheritances
and tears

that is how I know
the heart is a place
where I heard
the branches bending
in the wind

tell me again of the darkness
at mid-day
for I believe it too
when the graves opened
and the dead walked
in Jerusalem
when the earth shook
and the holy of holies opened
to the world

tell me all that again
for here I am working it out
knowing glory like shadows
knowing love like faint glimmers
knowing hope like mustard seeds

and I can only say that
I stand on shoulders
I crawl in the corners
I waver in the doorways
I wander back roads
and the best I can do
is know that I too
saw the sky go dark
and felt the earth move

Lithograph above by Marc Chagall, 1960
Job in Despair