It’s freezing here-
No it’s actually too hot.
I tried to like it
And YOU
Failed
Me
By placing me
In a desert
With invisible walls.
I’ve found them by now
Their hand-carved names too
“I love you”
“Look at me”
“I embrace your pain depths”
“This is worth it”
You like this don’t you.
Well I hate it.
I want out-
A ladder
A rope
Even a time frame
Would help me
Look anywhere but you.
F i n a l l y
I give up
Sit down
Look up
At your waiting gaze
That’s kept me safe
Out of my past comfort
Into this barren wasteland
Where your Love is never wasted
On me.
I look at you
A little less ashamed
And notice
I like it just a little more here.
Living in between
What were you like
In the time in between
All of the verses we know
Did you walk slower
Take deeper breaths
Smile from your heart
Unlock ripples of crowd joy with a joke?
Did you eat out of thankfulness-
Each taste
Bite
Meal
You transformed what isn’t into what is
Without being in a hurry to do it.
You taught hope and faith
In the moment
You infuriated religioners
While embracing the outcasts
You moved in the now
Like wind
Without forcing your way in
Or out
Through your presence
Always there
Here
Now
Without jumping ahead
Behind
In front
Showing us The Way
To live like I AM
Hannah Umphress lives outside Denver, Colorado with her husband and two children. She enjoys finding and contributing to the beauty around her in the form of authentic poetry, a meaningful conversation or a well-placed joke. She believes God might be a giggler and that it’s good for the soul to have inside jokes with Him.
Hannah, you’ve composed a beautiful juxtaposition of our lives and the seemingly impossible contradictions they hold at all times. What a raw and beautiful reminder of a powerful, loving, and merciful God at work even in our most desolate and severe lifespaces! Thank you for illustrating this so adeptly.