A Prayer
Prayer is our armour,
peace a shield,
Your presence is a guard
against the night.
Great Mother,
we drink from your breast.
Great Father,
we fall into your deep well
of all sufficient love.
Like the woman who asked for the water
that would forever satisfy,
so she would not have to venture out,
we ask for water over our heads,
baptising,
pouring from our limbs,
our skin.
Silence is an eye in a storm.
Silence is the deep powerful centre,
the engine room of energy,
of quiet power.
In your silent presence is our peace
and grace,
our prayer forged shield.
And from your endless sustenance we drink
to the depth of our need,
and fill our water jars to overflowing.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2020
I will wade out till my thighs are steeped
In burning flowers
I will take the sun into my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
alive
with closed eyes
~ ee cummings
‘Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”’
John 4:11-15