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This New Health


"The fever left her and she began to serve them”  ~Mark 1:29-39

I never felt a thing so good, so right
as that one magic touch,
as if he found the place
where heat and pain were all dammed up
and opened it to flow away.

Surprise relief! And then
surprise again, the strength!
Like nothing I have ever known
or could have asked!
And all I wanted then, I tell you,
all I wanted was to cook,
to slice, to mix, to bake
enough to serve them all.
And soon that “all,”
the hurting and oppressed,
came flooding to the door.

He healed, I served, he healed
some more, and then
in dark of night he left.
Out talking with Yahweh, they said,
as he so often did.

But this new health he gave
with that one touch
has never left. The vigor
at my age! Well, who’d have thought?
But I can also sit like this,
and reminisce, just quietly recalling,
giving voice to what he gave
that day he touched my head,
a touch that reached my heart,
and this new health
came flooding in to stay.

January 10, 2018


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