Consciously, I keep to the sides of the street
Shadows and dark corners are my dearest friends
Avoiding eye contact, not one soul I meet
Withdrawn safely in my dark and lonely world
Darkness encompasses me throughout the day
Cursed with this consistent bleeding for twelve years
A pronounced unclean vessel, long cast away
Forgotten, rejected, a punished sinner
I am weak. I have no more strength to extend
Every day left to ponder and wonder why
Why have I not reached yet my ultimate end
Why has my hope continually failed me?
Varieties of people I daily see
Each day knowing they'll pass and won't help to save
My broken body, the darkness within me
No one to deliver me from my cursed shame
A message spreads, and reaches my tender ear
Within is reborn a new bright spark of hope
The man with great healing power, he is near!
A great excitement rises throughout the crowd
As I scan the crowd, I see Him come my way
As I saw his surrounding crowd, my hope waned
In my uncleanliness, I must stay away
I must not touch them, that would make them unclean
Closer, ever closer, my heart beats faster
How to get to him without causing trouble?
The time flees in the shadows of the master
He, my only remaining true source for hope
With all my energy and strength I reach out
Focusing on the one place within my touch
Working through boldly, having cast out my doubt
I barely, yet with all my strength touch His hem
What that brief second does is hard to explain
Like a bolt of lighting an unknown power
The darkness subsides to the light's new domain
The sudden change overcomes me, I'm amazed
I look up as He turns and searches around
I know from what I see that he felt it too
Desiring the source of this exchange be found
Me, a worthless soul still prostrate at His feet
He sees me, that man of tremendous power
The gentleness of His voice and loving words
A quiet inner peace within me empower
No longer an outcast, nor left in the dark
I once was a lowly and worthless small lamb
He came as my last resource of hope
Priceless in his eyes and of worth I am
A partaker and witness of His glory.
Commentary:
A poem inspired by another biblical story as I try to imagine what it would be like to be the woman in the streets who gets healed by the stem of Jesus' robe. It is a story that I have loved for a long time. I remember the moment I was thinking about the story and feeling awed at His response to her. Had she made that effort to anyone else, she would have been rejected and spurned. There was also something special about the words, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Those words really got me thinking about what exactly that meant.
There is another poem written that is included in Prayers of the Heart, and it was also included in the Ensign (magazine for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) based on this story entitled, "A Touch of Faith." That one also comes from the perspective of the woman, but even though they are from the same perspective, there are different messages that come out from each of them.
