By Lawrence “Mack” Hall

Word Count: 92

Rating: G

Summary: A new look at an old stranger

As Abraham was called to leave his home,

To serve one God in haunted emptiness

Where errant spirits misguided pilgrims’ steps

Into those thickets that entangled lost souls

And

As Brother Francis, barefoot in the wild,

With rock and prayer rebuilt long-fallen shrines

When they had crumbled into weed-choked ruins

Where wolves gnawed on the bones of civilization

Now

An old man riding in a city bus,

Wearing spectacles and a cheap wristwatch,

Has come to see us through the wilderness,

And enkindle for us the Easter fire.