Journey East Poem by Steve Taunton

As the blazing sun sinks away behind us, so the furies
We flee shrink to specks on our minds’ horizon.
Dryness parches our lips as we drift from the river;
Our teeth grind on the desert dust.
In the hour between dusk and moonlight
The desert’s emptiness chills our hearts.

Dusk, then darkness, and our thoughts grow cold;
Imagined lies speak—our journey has been foolishness;
But that cannot be! We were led by the star!
Moonlight; and distant peaks show a bright lacework of snow
We saw Him, an infant, yet much more.

The cooler nights allowed our minds to turn on thoughts from our journey;
Brightness shines on the hilltops behind as the morning rises to meet us.
As our beasts dutifully bear their loads leaning ahead to the east,
We journey leaning from the end of history past into a richer hour to come.
Our lives were made full with a joy like cups filled with new wine.
Our lives will never be the same; our hearts were filled with a fresh hope.