Don’t look this way, Jesus, please.
If you’re looking for light, excuse me.

I’m only gasping underneath this
smoke-choked basket here because…

I’m not certain how much glow You’d get
even if you lift the basket.

A poem/prayer based on Matthew 5:13-20, the Revised Common Lectionary Gospel reading for Year A, Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.

The image is “Light Under a Basket,” a 1532 Bible illustration by the Italian Petrarca Master; Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4006971.