180 - The Burning

The Burning
By Jay G. Williams

Beth shemesh valley,
There I saw
A winnower upon a stone,
Like a black goat's hoof
For smoothness,
And tipped down flat
For threshing
By a shrug of Asia.
(Was it not
On such a rock
That David found
A home for holiness?)

The winnower and the wind,
A good, strong, fearsome
Gust it is
Which casts the chaff
To outer darkness
For burning In the fire unquenchable
Of the baking oven,
While the hard, bright kernels
Of the wheat
Fall footward,
To be swept and gathered,
Ground and baked
Into the goodly bread
For breaking.

I look again
And now I see
Thou art the kernel,
I, the chaff,
And the bread
For breaking
Is the Kingdom
Come among us.

Jay G. Williams is Professor of Religion at Hamilton College. He is the author of Ten Words of Freedom (1971), Understanding the Old Testament (1972), Yeshua Buddha (1978), and Judaism (1981). His Poetry has appeared in Ninnau, Y Delyn, and THEOLOGY TODAY. The present lines related to Dr. Williams' recent visit to Israel.