Miracle Poem by Steven Federle
Miracle
"Come, dervishes: here is the water of life. Dance in it."
Thomas Merton
The night looked bad.
Waves towered,
clouds racing
across the glaring moon,
the sea pounding out
all hope for their little boat,
when a ghost approached,
softly glowing,
impossibly walking across the
wet way.
Terror gripped them.
They saw grim Satan
striding across the waves
to take them down
to his watery hell,
But Peter,
truth clearing his fearful eyes,
saw His face, felt His peace
and, radiant with surging faith,
joyfully stepped over the side
to join his beloved Lord.
His feet touched the soft water.
It was like walking
through shallow puddles.
Lifting his legs
he moved slowly forward,
when looking down,
dark doubt
sucked him under
legs first,
then waist deep.
He cried, 'Lord, save me! '
and thrusting his hands
to heaven,
he felt the strong grip raising him back
to life.
Thank you for this beautiful poem of faith. I love the image of Peter feeling the sea depth under his feet as if it were only puddles and the strength of the Lord drawing him up when he suddenly got scared and lost faith. Thank you for such a vivid interpretation. I felt like I was there watching it all from the shore and in awe. Have a wonderful Easter!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/19/2024 8:26:59 AM # 1.0.0.1119
What a beautiful poem and brilliant illumination of the scene. It has everything. The fear they felt when they didn; 't know it was the Lord, then unbridled joy when they saw it was Him and Peter's impetuous stepping out on the waves and the part I especially loved when the waves felt like mere puddles to him (this is a wonderful God given insight) , then his sudden, childlike fear and the strength of the Lord pulling him back up, thank you for this. I felt as I read your poem as though I was there on the shore watching it all unfold and in deep awe. At the same time it made me think of all of the appearances of Jesus after he rose as if those were also implied in the poem. The quote from Merton is truly a delight. I am trying to read all of Merton's journals now. The atmosphere of his writing is so deep and filled with a kind of light joy at the same time, like your poem! Have a Blessed Easter!