Your gravestone lies flat
Kept visible from the encroaching grass
By constant care
No, no, no, you are not here
Instead the Lord bade you
Hide by the brook Cherith
In the wilderness near Jericho
There by the brook is the cave you wished for
Ravens morning and evening
Bring flesh and bread.

You are hiding from your Ahab
In the monastery above the brook Cherith
The Copts gave you a cell and a robe
And when you put the crucifix under your pallet
They took you for an iconoclast
When you did not speak
They took that for a vow of silence
When you walked naked in the desert
They crossed themselves and wept
You tend their hives and bake theirbread
You spoon concoctions of herbs
Into the mouths of the sick
Wiping the dribble with your sleeve
You speak only to sing and the monks shiver
There on the ledge in the desert
You conceal yourself
One night you will pack loaves andhoney
And steal away
To bring rain to Thesssaly
Or draw lightning away
From the forests of Mount Athos.