“Can these bones live?” – Improv on Ezekiel 37

Speak to the bones, the broken bones
of those who have been abused,
or fought in wars,
or eaten so little, joints crumble,
to the bones of those
with rheumatoid arthritis,
all its arthritis siblings,
osteoporosis, bursitis, lupus,

and prophesy to them hope,
for they will be knit in spirit,
in spite of lives changed by pain,
with blessings as deep
as the rattling
of remembered joints.

Speak to the breath,
the gasping breath of those
with asthma and pneumonia,
with COPD, bronchitis,
emphysema, cystic fibrosis,

and prophesy to them,
that all the winds will blow through them.

Speak even to those with bone cancer
and those with lung cancer,
and say to them that they
are God’s dancers,
the keepers of the world’s song,

and prophesy to everyone who asks,
“Do these children of God live?

Saying, “O God, you know us.”

(with thanks to Eric Anderson who inspired this and it may be helpful for you to know that I have Osteoarthritis and COPD and my partner has rheumatoid arthritis, so this passage has been a blessing to us in more that the more usual biblical interpretation.)