Desert Mother and Father
(contemplating Holy Family narratives)

With her husband, she
Flees with her child;

They go in the desert way,
If anyone can hurry.

They arrive in pharaohs’
Land, now a Roman colony.

What happens now?
They will live in exile,

Then return to native land,
Moving toward home in

Relative safety. She is
The desert mother, now—

He the desert father.
Child of the wilderness,

He will be taken there
Again, driven by God and

God-made agencies. He
will defeat the devil: after

To home and elsewhere in
The land, nevermore in

Safety. In millennial ages,
Spirit-led parents, not

Attached, will live in
Heathen caves and cells

To mentor the will of God,
To recall in scoured

Understanding and
Legacied devotion—what

This first desert family
Rescued and made real.