The Scattered Congregation
Tomas Tranströmer
I
We got ready and showed our home
The visitor thought: you live well.
The slum must be inside you.
II
Inside the church, pillars and vaulting
white as plaster, like the cast
around the broken arm of faith.
III
Inside the church there’s a begging bowl
that slowly lifts from the floor
and floats along the pews.
IV
But the church bells have gone underground.
They’re hanging in the sewage pipes.
Whenever we take a step, they ring.
V
Nicodemus the sleepwalker is on his way
to the Address. Who’s got the Address?
Don’t know. But that’s where we’re going.
Pray: Just As I Am
Charlotte Elliott 1834
Tossed about
with many conflicts
many doubts
just as I am
to You I come.
Fightings and fears
within and without
just as I am
to You I come.
You will receive
You will welcome
pardon cleanse relieve
just as I am
to You I come.
Your promise
I believe
just as I am
to You I come.
Just as I am
to You I come.
