Harvey S. Mozolak
there were times
when they gathered
gleaning grain from the field edges
on the rutted roads they walked
and others
when baskets were needed
to save the uneaten abundance
at the feeding of a multitude
filled by a few fish and loaves
an invitation recalled
to a Pharisee’s house where they ate
welcome amid others’ folded and refolded
unused napkins of purity and complaint
then in the upper chamber
for the feast of saving leaving
with unleavened bread and wine
given as broken and shed
he had said
there was food that he ate
that they knew nothing about
his appetite beyond
the occasional date and sweet bite
of pomegranate or roasted egg
bread fresh baked from the earth oven
lamb licked to the bone
his life was a fast
amid our plates and platters
his food to do the will of the one
who sent him to the last
the work of the fruit re-stemmed to the tree
his will slaughtered on a spit
basted by human spit and spite
for the reaping of our eternal harvest
(John 4. 31-34)
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