THOMAS TRAHERNE:HEAR ME

No soul can live
by the law
yet feels
as an outcast
like Esau
who sold his birthright
for pottage
and a quick meal
on a blue plate special
as an exile
who chose to be fully fed
and ate from hunger
unlike John the Baptist
who died in faith
with a severed head,
O Thomas of doubt
promise me this
you will remember
a missing poet as well
on golden streets
where psalm writers,
young saints for God
and poets meet
recite and tell.