“Seek Yahweh, all you, the humble of the earth, who obey his commands. Seek integrity, seek humility” (Zephaniah 2: 3, The Jerusalem Bible).

This is the season of the lengthening of day,
wilderness time, the desert of repentance,

renewal, time of knowing we are dust
and to dust we will return, time of sudden joy

for time we have had and time remaining,
humble before our Maker, God With Us

in the belly of the whale, laughing with us
at our slimy, stinky residence, the darkness

of What Hope when the whale surfaces,
mouth wide to welcome the remainder of light,

the roiling stomach surge, vomiting deposit
on the beach, our laughter shocking the

sun-bathing Ninevites backpedaling
before the fish-guts regurgitation of us,

our human-ness, humble at last,
no more trumpeting our worth.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.