We thought him strange

when he returned

after all those days

in the desert alone.

His hair was grown,

his face unshaven,

thin and gaunt

and reddened by the sun

but every one of us

knew that he was changed

and that something about him

shone with a kind of light

and that he had a glow,

peculiar and unknown.

We tried to focus

and adjust our sight

and all of us questioned

what we really saw

But the clarity of his eyes

was what captivated

and surprised us most.

He seemed to be able

to see into our very souls

But we could not know

that while he was gone,

he battled every demon

and made himself whole.

And that the man who left,

alone, forty days ago,

returned to us now as God.

Some clung to him,

some wanted to worship

and others ran away.

But to those brave

enough to stay,

he only said, follow me.

And few understood

and some thought it odd

when he asked that

we spend forty days

in the desert alone

to find that we too are God.

Author: Michele Collier

Editor: Emma Ruffin

Photo: Wikimedia Commons