I can lift you up
Out of the crumbling fragments of older days,
Free you from the binding routine of past ways.
I can make all things new
But not without pain – pain in you.
I cannot give you the new
Unless you lose your hold
Of safe, trusted ways of old.
And between letting go and re-creation,
Loss and grief, give way to faith and hope
Engendering loving risk and patient exploration.
I cannot fill your hands
Until you empty them.
Then I can lift you up as I was lifted up
(adverse to it all, in loneliness, failure and pain,
On a cross of shame)
Into life’s fullness
The process is old, old as the fruit-bearing gain.
Why do you loiter (without clear intent)
In half filled houses of a land
Where homelessness is crying pain?
Why do you cling to serving yesterday’s need
When ther here and now anguish is for Love?
Why do you shore up the status quo,
Silent before inequality and wrong
When my fierce Word yearns to be heard.
Why do you patch, mend and prolong
What is past effective repair,
When dismantlement is the only way
To new possibilities demanding exploration?
Come, follow me, with open hands,
I will life you up and make you new.
Timirí 