Pilate’s Afterthought – By Paul Hooker

Strong walls make for safe rooms, sanctuary

from the shifting winds that change one’s plans.

Doors are entries or escapes, depending on

who’s in the room. Light sets boundaries,

sharp-edged limits on the creeping shadow.

Dark is the realm of dust and roaches.

We cultured cynics look best in sunlight where

the logic of our cause is clear to all.

 

But Truth—was he that beggar in the dark,

rumpled failure cloaked in rags and ashes,

a pair of hooded torches instead of eyes?

Would you have me walk his mendicant way,

hands cupped for the morsel he breaks and proffers,

lips pursed to sip the wine he would dispense?

I think not. Does not Truth shine with bright assurance,

when bloody hands and conscience are washed clean?

 

But tell me, if you can, why the sun seems shrouded

and why the earth now quakes beneath my feet.

 

 

 

Paul Hooker is associate dean for ministerial formation and advanced studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin TX. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Union Presbyterian Seminary (D Min), Emory University (PhD, Old Testament), Paul has served PC(USA) congregations in Kingsport, TN and Atlanta, GA, and as Executive Presbyter and Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of St Augustine (Jacksonville, FL). He is the author of two books from Westminster John Knox Press. He is married to Patricia Thiede, and has two children and three grandchildren. Over the last few years, he has been surrendering to a lifelong passion for poetry, and has several poems published in The Presbyterian Outlook and other publications.