the mute's testimony
i can't pray aloud
my tongue flaps
but no sound takes shape
can a voiceless prayer
fly out
across space?
when i pray
an enormous ear strains to hear me
swallows in
my tiniest thought
the deaf man's testimony
i am
surrounded
by a stone wall
i live
in a silent universe
but when i see
christ
i can hear
the divine words
lazarus' testimony
when i was steadily
being swallowed by the dark
behind me a voice thundered
"la-za-rus!"
it came flying and seized me
when i returned to the light
summoned by that voice
there before me stood the speaker
his face was like the sky
he peered at me anxiously
when that warm breath
breathed in my face
i realized he had been calling to me
since before i was born
