On The Road To Emmaus Poem by Gert Strydom

While we were walking
the seven miles to our house
that was in Emmaus
Cleopas and I were talking

about Jesus of Nazareth being crucified
about the life that he lead
and the cruel way in which he died
and this honest powerful man was now dead

thunder flashed down from the heaven,
the sun fled away
as if it wasn’t day
and although the miles were only seven

our depressed walk felt like an eternity
and the things that happened in Jerusalem was frightening
laying like a very heavy burden on Cleopas and me
and then suddenly very exciting

another man was walking with us,
at first we did notice or even recognize him
and we told him, as we were so serious
why our lives seemed so dim

we told him how the women amazed us with the news
that the tomb was empty
and on this issue we both had our views
but some of our companions went to see

and the body of Christ was gone
they could not find him anywhere
and it felt as if we were totally alone
as his body was no longer there

but the man told us from the scriptures
about the mission of God the Son,
and we knew the things he had done
and even from his well known gestures

we did not recognize that Jesus himself had walked
and had talked
on the road to Emmaus with us
we only comprehended it later at the falling dusk.

[Reference: The Waste Land: V. “What the thunder said” by T. S. Eliot.]