Early Christian Anchorite

Poem by Rosemary Mathew

To escape this world’s contagion, I will go
Forth to the wilderness and build me there
A shelter; or a cave find in the hills.
Thus will I loose myself from Satan’s ills.

Sin’s heavy, leaden clouds loom dark and low,
My lungs will shrivel from this want of air,
But heaven’s sweet love and promises are fair
And will sustain me as they downward flow.

Where in this cankered earth can peace be found?
Not in the house, the land, the sky, the sea –
But in the quiet of prayer and thought profound,
Words whispered in the heart, ‘Love makes you free.’

The desert’s sands stretch from me, bleak and far;
Our world’s a planet round a soul-less star
Circling in endless space of transient blue.

Each night to sleep and close the eyes ’gainst fear,
Each day to wake, to doubt, or trust, anew.
May mercy’s strength uphold me on the way,
’Til I at last gain heaven’s radiant day.

April 2020

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