The Poetry of Mark Daniel Milbocker 
The Holy Way

Streams will burst forth in the desert,
	and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
	and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk 
	will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.
A highway will be there,
	called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
	nor fools go astray on it.
No lion will be there,
	nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.
It is for those with a journey to make,
	and on it the redeemed will walk.
			(Isaiah 53:6-10)

What is this coming up from the desert,
	like a column of smoke
Laden with myrrh, with frankincense,
	and with the perfume of every
	exotic dust?
Ah, it is the litter of Solomon...
			(Song of Songs 3:6-7)


I knew the way,
	though in the distance,
Lay before my feet
	beyond where my eyes could see.

In the darkness,
	I felt the tremors,
Through and through my heart,
	as I hastened to follow my dream.

---

Like a star through the darkness
You pierced through my unknowing
You gave me a gift - 
The dream in my heart.

And with step upon step,
	the dream my heart drawing,
I find myself here on
	this peculiar way.

Lions around me
have staulked me
through this night.
Lions have fed upon
the flesh on my bones.

Now I find my feet,
	though tired and weary,
Stand upon stone
	as the dawn meets the sky.

---

With the first twilight
	in my eyes,
I cry out
	from the desert.
As my eyes begin to see
	from whence I have come.

And now, though firmly standing
	on a road carved through the desert,
the lions remain
	at bay in the dust.
I can only fall to my knees,
	eyes closed, quickly praying:
"Spare me, Oh Lord, in you I will trust."

Now raising my head
	from my hands,
Your answer 
	shoots through me.
As my eyes gaze upon
	a caravan afar.

"So alone I have been...
How could You come to me?
I knew You would come
I know You are there!"

Forgetting my fear,
	I run towards the dawn.
Racing along the road
	as it winds through the dunes.

Day upon day, I say:
	"Why do I not grow closer?"
Night upon night
	"Will I ever reach my dream?"

On the seventh day I rest,
	Watching the caravan from afar.
Its splendor excites me
	I can see its brilliance rising to the sun.

---

Onward and onward
Step after step
Journeying afar to find my heart's dream.

---

Seven months, seven years pass,
	And I say to myself:
"I have followed this road,
And though it splits the desert apart,
I wonder where it leads..."

On that night,
	when the road 
Seemed to turn away
	from my sight,
Gazing on the caravan,
	I took a step towards it
Which lay in the sand -

And the pit drew me in
And the lions came upon me
They wounded me to death
So that a dream fell upon me.

I saw the litter of Solomon
Sixty valient men surrounded it,
Valient men, expert with the sword,
Skilled in battle, each with his sword 
at his side against danger 
in the watches of the night.

King Solomon made this carriage
of wood from Lebanon.
He made its columns from silver,
its roof of gold,
Its seat of purple cloth,
its framework inlaid with ivory.
I came forth to look upon 
King Solomon in the crown
with which his mother had crowned him
on this day of his marriage, 
on the day of the joy of his heart.

And when I raised my eyes upon him,
	I found his arm outstretched,
And I watched myself take hold of him
	and he raised me to his chair,
Behind the veils of marriage,
	he looked into my eyes
And I saw my Lord before me.

---

The light of his eyes 
	was the star that drew me.
The security of his embrace
	was the stone road 
	which had lain below my feet.
And from the rapture of that moment
	when I embraced my dream, 
I awoke,
	in the sand below the dark path.

---

And with the strength of this remembrance,
	I scrambled to the road.
I returned my gaze upon,
	the caravan awaiting.

"Oh Lord, you ARE there before me.
You have set my feet upon a good path.
And each day I embrace it, 
	I feel your strength with me,
Each night I see Your star, 
	I know I'm not lost."

"Oh Dream of my Dream,
	one day I will find you,
As surely as I make
	each step upon stone.
I wait for that day
	when we will be united,
When your grace will lead
	us to our final home.
■





©1995 Mark Daniel Milbocker  All rights reserved.