Forty Lenten Haiku Lee Henschel Jr. Author of The Sailing Master, Books One & Two, (Rocket Science Press 2014 & 2018) 1. in the blue jungle where ancient spirits dwell there rings a tiny bell dawn spreads across the Negev to reveal the coming day 2. Sea of Galilee, placid, blue, God’s own daughter blood in the water 3. in the hushed air, in the sleeping shadows, in the dry scent of cedar 4. you feed the latent fire, and within the small flame everything has found its name
7. your first breath the first hungry cry of an artless child 8. no one to interpret no one to guide left on your own 9. left to your imagination left to wander on your own with no instructions, only a vow 10. a forthright child humble, and of low birth no king on high 11. Nazareth and Capernaum your humble beginning your love of the poor
Nazarenes gather at the well coming to fetch their water
12. your first stumble not on Calvary’s steep slope, but as you learn to walk
5. some call you messiah, some say heretic, son of god, son of man both begotten and made
13. when you were a child, and watched the storm clouds racing did you know, even then, how it would be?
6. but Mary knows you well long before you knew yourself, so restive in her womb
14. but for now you only play in the sun Mary’s precious child
Lost Lake Folk Opera 21
