We made known to you

Haiku responding to 2 Pt 1:16-21

We came not with myths,

cleverly designed, we told

you of his coming

He came among us.

We witness to his power;

we saw it ourselves

We witnessed Jesus

in all of his majesty

in all his glory.

God acknowledged him

on the mountain, declaring:

My beloved Son!

We were with him there,

when the voice spoke from heaven,

in that holy place..

We bring a message

of prophecy, God confirms

the things that we say

Attend to these words,

light shining in a dark place,

dawning in your hearts.

No prophecy comes

from human will; but from those

moved by God's Spirit.

© Ken Rookes 2026

Come up the mountain

 Haiku

God, Moses chatting.

Come up the mountain, says God;

I’ll give you some laws.

God’s been hard at work

formulating commandments;

writing them on stone.

Benevolent laws

for harmonious living;

laws that lead to life.

Moses, Joshua,

start their climb, tell the elders:

Wait here, we’ll be back.

The mystery cloud

covers Sinai; God’s glory,

a devouring fire.

On the seventh day

God calls from the cloud. Moses

goes up inside it.

From way down below

the people see the glory;

wonder what it means.

Forty days and nights

Moses is gone. The people

think he must be dead.

© Ken Rookes 2023

Heaven has come close

Haiku of illumination

Four of them, climbing

the mountain of destiny;

Jesus and some mates.

While he was praying

his face became altered, white,

dazzling and bright.

A conversation,

Moses, Elijah, Jesus,

speaking of the end.

Heaven has come close,

the divine and the human

weaving together.

There is glory here,

a glimpse before the end, when

fullness is revealed.

The descending cloud

overshadows, a voice speaks;

My Son: hear his words!

The cloud lifts. Only

Jesus remains. He tells them,

Do not speak of this.

Only at the end,

Beyond the cross and the tomb

will they understand.

© Ken Rookes 2022

The mountain was high

Haiku of illumination

The mountain was high,

according to Matthew’s text.

Four friends made the climb.

Mystery mountain

cloaked in energy and light;

Jesus shining bright.

Moses, man of law,

talking with the carpenter

and comparing notes.

Prophet Elijah

enters the conversation,

gives his two-bob’s worth.

Jesus, fulfilment

of the law and the prophets.

Illumination.

Further approval

in the voice and shining cloud:

Listen to my Son!

Some who name him, Lord,

forget his command to love.

They will not listen.

Surpassing the Law

and greater than the prophets:

Jesus’ words of love.

© Ken Rookes 2020

His face shone like the sun

Haiku of fear and bewilderment

A small, select group

go hiking up a mountain

to admire the view.

A vision of light.

His face, it burns like the sun,

his clothes dazzle white.

Jesus shines, commands

his friends' attention; as if

words were not enough.

Jesus greets Moses

and Elijah, consulting

with history

The cloud of bright light

descends and immerses them

into mystery.

The cloud finds its voice:

This is my beloved son;

what he says is true.

The disciples quake,

with bewilderment and fear.

They fall to the ground.

They are left alone.

Jesus comes to them and speaks:

Do not be afraid.

Making their descent,

he instructs them: Tell no-one

'til death is conquered.

© Ken Rookes 2017

Mountain Haiku Sequence

Come with me, he says

to Peter, James and John;

time to climb up high-

Mountain-top prayers

where earth and heaven come close;

connecting the two.

Wonder and light. Ah,

these things take away one's breath;

eyes and hearts grow wide.

Moses, Elijah

standing there, bleached and glowing;

speaking mysteries.

The one they followed

also shines, shares the wonder.

Who can this man be?

A cloud, descending,

hides the light-washed ones from view;

then the voice thunders.

It speaks approval:

He is my Son, the chosen;

listen to his words.

The cloud is lifted.

The four remain in silence,

alone with their thoughts.

© Ken Rookes 2016

even with us ....

It was Jesus of Nazareth all right, the man they'd tramped many a dusty mile with, whose mother and brothers they knew, the one they'd seen as hungry, tired, footsore as the rest of them. But it was also the Messiah, the Christ, in his glory. It was the holiness of the man shining through his humanness, his face so afire with it they were almost blinded.
Even with us something like that happens once in a while. The face of a man walking his child in the park, of a woman picking peas in the gar-den, of sometimes even the unlikeliest person listening to a concert, say, or standing barefoot in the sand watching the waves roll in, or just having a beer at a Saturday baseball game in July. Every once and so often, some-thing so touching, so incandescent, so alive transfigures the human face that it's almost beyond bearing.
Frederick Buechner, Transfiguration

Speaking of his departure.

Luke had barely begun his gospel,
having launched it in cosmiclebration
with angel choirs and shepherds;
before pointing us to the end.
On a mountain we overhear a dread-filled discussion
between a pair of ancient shining legends
and a third man glowing.
This latter one
has begun to attract some attention
and a following; maybe one day
he will be accorded similar hall of fame status.
They speak of endings,
and of Jerusalem’s long-reaching shadows.
This going-away talk
must have disturbed his three friends.
Along with the rest of the twelve,
and, presumably, the women and the others,
they struggled with notions of departure and death.
Caught up in a glorious adventure
and hoping it would never end,
they listened to his words but were unable to hear.
Perhaps not the women; power,
glory and immortality tend to be a male thing.
The dazzling lights are diminished,
extinguished;
overtaken by the darkness of a cloud
and the insistent shaded echo of a voice.
The four men take leave of the mountain
and journey towards an inevitable Jerusalem.
There will be set before them
other days of disturbing light;
and with them, many shadows.

© Ken Rookes 2013

Transfiguration

“[I believe] there is nothing more needed by humanity today 

than the recovery of a sense of “beyond-ness”

in the whole of life to revive the springs of wonder and adoration.”  John. V Taylor