the desert

i found a great poem by garry harris. check out his stuff here.

The Desert

Reduced to essence,
The desert reveals our core.
Stripping away our veneer of religion
Till we stand naked before God and ourselves,
And are forced to own our shadow
Whose existence we had previously denied.

Wilderness is a great teacher.
Moses; David; the Master; and we
Must eventually face its ravages,
Emerging from it different; whole; prepared;
To be God's people in the world.

Do not flee these torments.
Welcome them as life's great tutorial,
Integrating light and darkness; virtue and vanity; good and evil;
That we may present ourselves in all our propensity
To the Eternal One, who is still the God of the mountain;
the valley; and the desert.