Mark Stucky Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

Jericho Roads

By Mark Stucky
At the end of the rock-strewn road,
fell the walls surrounding Jericho.
Spared from destruction,
were a harlot’s people,
the family of Rahab,
Israel’s unlikely ally,
and unlikely ancestor
of peasants and kings
and the King of kings,
who came to save us all,
when our own walls fall
at the ends of our roads.

As Jesus walked the road,
leaving rebuilt Jericho,
a man who was blind
begged for mercy and sight.
Jesus healed his eyes
with love and kindness,
transforming
a beggar’s begging
into following
and praising.

In a parable Jesus told
of a lone sojourner
on that dusty road,
beaten and robbed,
left for dead,
but instead,
his life was saved,
not by religious men
coming from Jerusalem,
but by a despised Samaritan,
who showed mercy and love
where others provided none.
And for a stranger’s plight
he sacrificed to make things right.

Unlikely salvation
from unlikely sources
in unlikely places
for unlikely faces
may be found
on Jericho roads.


(First published in Spirit Fire Review, 23 May 2022. For background references to the stories, see Joshua 2-6, Matthew 1:5, and Luke 10:25-37, 18:35-43. See also my poems “Contested Crossroads" and "Life Labyrinths.”)

(Image by Valdemaras D. on Unsplash.com.)

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