Jesus Said Shut Up
(Mark 1:25)
I knelt before Him, scattering my prayer
About, some here, some there,
Petition rabid, praise a bit abrupt;
In vague despair
Suggested I was vicious and corrupt,
Till Jesus said, “Shut up!”
And as my words fell listless to the floor
A safety heretofore
Protecting me had now been overthrown.
No words, no metaphors
Could save me now. He’d called me to His Throne
To face Him all alone.
Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, Amethyst Review, America Magazine, Pensive Journal, Forma Journal, and The Society of Classical Poets. He is a certified catechist with the Archdiocese of New York, a Benedictine oblate of St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown, NJ, and editor of The Catholic Poetry Room.
