Standing at this Bus Stop

Standing at this bus stop
you can feel the Holy Spirit
It comes unbidden
like a raven drifting to perch
on my shoulder
as cars squeal and lurch and speed by
While most unlikely,
this moment meets the three requirements:
no whirlwind or fire or earthquake

Perhaps it was a bus
which brought Moses down from Mount Sinai
or a commuter train
which ferried a boy prophet out of a sacred grove
Picture prophets pressed
shoulder to shoulder,
rubbing up against fellow travelers

Truly,
there is nothing quite like the Spirit
to carry one away

 

Maddy Peterson is a neuroscientist and a poet.