Poem 6 The mud pool
Carrying on from yesterday's theme of coming into freedom and the spacious place , away from dank , dark , dead religion... Sorry quite a lot of words here !!
Many years ago on a trip to Turkey, my wife and I visited a mud pool.. This is a common thing for tourists and not unlike the Dead Sea , you are able to go into the mud pool and taking big handfuls of sludge to smear it all over your body and leave it to dry in the sun . Many consider this to have healing qualities , but for me it was just a lark ... Our guide for the day is described in the writing, and he had a wonderful time as did we.
I was struck at that time with the direct contrast that there is between a stagnant mud pool where nothing enters it apart from rain, and there is no outlet, with very little growth around it no creatures or life in it..
Compare this with the moving river which juxtaposed the pool and there is a beautiful contrast of life and movement and growth and energy
I felt in my spirit I did not wish in my life to spend long in the mud !!
The River in this passage can be seen as God's freeing Holy Spirit
Ezekiel 47 9 +
9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
He took us to the mud pool,
The little wiry boyish Turk
The Turkish guy
Full middle-aged
Yet Mowgli- like from Kipling‘s Jungle Book
Agility and energy
A cheeky grin
He said ‘come follow me’
Upon which he came
Towards the thick grey pool
And jumping in
He urged us all to do the same
Taking handfuls from near his knees
He swathed his busy body
In a thick grey slimy sludge
Which baked dark grey and dry
Within moments under the scorching sun.
Making his skin
Thick and mud encrusted,
Like elephants at the watering hole
To shouts and calls
We charged like mad fools
And jumping in
Smeared and caked ourselves in glorious mud
Hippos bathing in the stagnant pool
Thus encrusted we tried to move! Oh oh !!
Treacle treading
Trudging sludge
Squelching mud
Encased our legs
Four strides to water’s edge
Seemed like marathon
Joy turned to doubt
Will I ever get out ?
And doubt to fear
Will I get stuck here?
For Mowgli and the crowd had disappeared
And I was left alone
Cheeky smirking boyish man
Turkmanish guy
Had run up river
To shower and to wash
To roll and tumble
In and around the swirling splash
Spinning as if in washing machine
Stealthily avoiding rocks
Going with the flow
Pushed and rushed along
An easy moving spirit
This way – that way
Freely playing
About his cleaning business
Like darting minnow
Leaping salmon
Cleansed within the torrent
Washed clean
In the free flow
Of the mighty river
In this I saw
Two invitations to follow ...
One like legalistic religion
Closed up
Hemmed in
Deadly, sticky ,dry,
Hard , tiring slog
Stultifying, holding down
Wallowing in sludge
No amount of washing in that pool would make you clean
Freedom so hard to find and to attain ....
Stuck in the mud
The other
Like Spirit’s freedom
Life Abundant
Living Water
Exhilarating
Open , wide
Living free
Revitalised
Cleansing me
From mountain brook
To mighty open sea
Horizon of my destiny
Life giving
Fast flowing stream
I know where I would rather be !
John Nuttall March 2018