At City Light Community Ministries, a friend
resurrected from the streets, tells me,
on good authority, he can move mountains,

cast them into the sea of troubled water.
Faith his fallow field sown with mustard seeds.

The streets offer a communion of addiction:
Come unto me and take no thought for
tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. . . .

My friend was lifted up like the song says
by Love that will not let him go.

He tells me fear no more the Foe
who can only dismantle the body,
arrows of guilt, hate, and revenge.

The double-edged sword
of flattery and lies.

My friend has faced the Foe
shriveled now, pitied on the street,

evening falling hard, darkness all around,
my friend risen on the wings of faith and love,

acting justly, loving tenderly,
walking humbly with his God.

*Biblical and Song Lyrics Allusions:

“In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians13: 13, The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday, 1966.

Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon & Garfunkel (Paul Simon song writer), Columbia Records, January 26, 1970.

The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday, 1966: Micah 6: 8; Matthew 10: 28; Matthew 17: 20; Mark 11: 22-24; Luke 17: 5-6.