A New Rabbi
A new Rabbi is traveling
around the country teaching and preaching
scripture, inside and outside the temple.
Have you ever heard anything so laughable?
Up in the hills out in the country teaching Scripture,
on the mountain and in the shepards pasture.
People come from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem,
and Judea, from beyond the Jordan they follow him.
There is something different about this man.
He's not a priest, he comes from David's clan.
He gave a sermon on top of a mountain last week.
There was a large crowd when he began to speak.
Over five thousand men were in that horde,
and everyone heard what was said, every word.
Now, that's a miracle! I hardly hear what they say,
when every things quiet, in temple, on Sabath day.
Its as if, he is speaking to each one of us alone;
he is one of us, a Jew, in our roots he is sown.
Many of the things he has said are beyond me,
I may not understand the meaning of his theme.
Now, I'm a shepard tending my sheep listening to him,
herding my sheep up to the crowd along its outer rim.
I can't get any closer: I have to watch my sheep,
at the sound of his voice, they lie down and sleep.
He said to me, shepard, "You shall inherit the earth."
In all my twenty-five years,I have not felt this worth.
I am told, "Do this, do that, go here, go there, stay here,
stay there, but, do not leave the sheep alone out there!"
In my mind, said the rasping sound of my master's voice.
The holy man said, "Come with me, you have a choice."
Copyright © Bill Doggett | Year Posted 2009
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