The Poetics of Faith

‘Straight to the point’
          can ricochet,
                    unconvincing.
Circumlocution, analogy,
          parable’s ambiguities, provide
                    context, stepping-stones.

Most of the time. And then

the lightning power
          amidst these indirections,
                    of plain
unheralded miracle!
          For example,
                    as if forgetting
to prepare them, He simply
          walks on water
                    towards them, casually –
and impetuous Peter, empowered,
          jumps from the boat and rushes
                    On wave-tip to meet Him –
a few steps, anyway –
          (till it occurs to him,
                    ‘I can’t, this is preposterous’
and Jesus has to grab him,
          tumble his weight
                    back over the gunwale).
Sustaining those light and swift
          steps was more than Peter
                    could manage. Still,
years later,
          his toes and insteps, just before sleep,
                    would remember their passage.

--Denise Levertov (1923-1997), Anglo-American poet, daughter of a Hasidic father who became a priest in the Church of England, and convert to Roman Catholicism, from The Stream and the Sapphire.