XXIV

In reaching for before, its form refracts.
A single beam made many as it bends.
Not broken, no, but reformed in the act;
what once enshrined resists its former ends.

I feared to touch it, lest fidelity
be lost to motion, effaced then in vain.
I longed to step back into what had been,
as if a moment might be lived again.

But time persists despite its constant end;
eternity is held in passing breath.
The past does not return; it recommends
to persevere despite the risk of death.

We bear each other past all measured ends,
upheld in grace we cannot comprehend. 

How may such singular regard be named?
This stands apart from flash or ornament.
Was once set down, then inwardly reclaimed.
A sacred cord wove strong and reverent.

At last, I come to rest upon your shore,
where kind and patient hands learn to receive.
I meet in you what steadies me the more.
What holds us fast, we come, now, to believe.

I am made yours, and you are rendered mine,
not by demand, nor chance, nor force of will.
What has been passed through in profound design
is weight that bids us choose to go on still.

So let us praise the Lord with each new morn.
New life bestowed, rejoice! We are reborn.