A Psalm for Nahshon
God’s love is an ocean that covered the earth,
a sea that rolled away at Nashon’s feet
once he waded in deeper than he could breathe.
God’s love is the flood and promise, the Nile turned blood,
years of parched earth, mute prayers, and finally fire
descending on the sodden wood and altars.
God’s love is hands grasping at graven stones
for graven images, and images graven
with nails into open palms.
God’s love is wallowing in a fish’s empty stomach
and swallowing a pinch of fish that fills the stomach
and soul. God’s love stills our troubled waters
and troubles the waters that heal.
David Hurtado lives in Utah with his wife of 22 years and 3 (almost adult) children. This is his first published poem, unless you count his high school literary magazine. Like Nahshon, David probably would have marched right into the Red Sea, but only because he’s always loved to swim.
About the poem
►In one Jewish legend, Moses raised his staff to part the Red Sea but nothing happened. It wasn’t until a man named Nahshon stepped into the water and kept walking in up to his head that the Red Sea parted.
