Emmaus 1 – Malcolm Guite
This is the first of 2 sonnets about the disciples on the road to Emmaus, from my new poetry collection, “Parable and paradox”. This first one reflects on the verses in Luke 24:17. ‘He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast’.
And do you ask what I am speaking of
Although you know the whole tale of my heart;
Its longing and its loss, its hopeless love?
You walk beside me now and take my part
As though a stranger, one who doesn’t know
The pit of disappointment, the despair
The jolts and shudders of my letting go,
My aching for the one who isn’t there.
And yet you know my darkness from within,
My cry of dereliction is your own,
You bore the isolation of my sin
Alone, that I need never be alone.
Now you reveal the meaning of my story
That I, who burn with shame, might blaze with glory.
© Malcolm Guite from Parable and Paradox: Sonnets on the Sayings of Jesus and other Poems, Canterbury Press 2016 www.malcolmguite.com
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