Lory Widmer Hess

POETRY

“Caught” read by Lory Widmer Hess.

Caught

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” –John 8:3-5

I’m caught in this circle,
Unable to move,
Bound to the earth
Where dull stones lie.

A round of judges
With stony eyes
Makes me their test.
They see no love.

I summon my voice
To raise the cry
Of the silent ground—
But no words come;

I’m caught in the circle
Of rage and fear.
There is no way out.
Then he makes a way,

Drawing in dust,
Inscribing my hope
Upon the earth’s
Unspeaking face.

The circle reverses,
Turns inside out.
I’m the free one,
They’re in the trap—

Bound to the earth
Until they can read
What he wrote: Himself
At one with our dust.

Lory Widmer Hess lives in Switzerland. Her writing has been published in Parabola, Kosmos Quarterly, Braided Way, Red Letter Christians, Untold Volumes, and other print and online publications, and she is currently in training as a spiritual director. She blogs about life, language, and literature at enterenchanted.com.

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Artwork: “Jesus and the adulteress” by Rembrandt. Public Domain.