Pool of healing

Haiku of entry

In Jerusalem,

by the sheep gate; Beth-zatha

a pool of healing.

Beside Beth-zatha

pool, many invalids lie,

blind, lame, paralysed.

 

 

Ill thirty-eight years.

Jesus asks his strange question:

Would you be made well?

When the angel stirs

the water, I am too slow;

others enter first.

Stand, take your mat. Walk!

The man was made well, and walked.

It was the sabbath.

Rules have been broken.

Love brings healing and wholeness.

Let’s keep breaking rules.

© Ken Rookes 2022

Now that day was a Sabbath

A haiku sequence

In Jerusalem

by the Sheep Gate; see, a pool

with five porticoes.

Beth-Zatha by name.

There the invalids gather,

waiting for a sign.

When the angel stirs

the water, the race begins;

to claim the healing.

This man cannot walk;

he will never enter first.

He lies there, hoping.

It was a Sabbath

when Jesus came to that place;

breaking all the rules.

© Ken Rookes 2016