Reading the Bible Again After 13 Years

Reading the Bible again
after 13 years
David Bentley Hart's translation
second edition
is like that walk I did
two years ago along Rimando Road
meant to feel what it feels like

again

to be near what was once sacred.

First, a surprising joy fills me
to read about
Mary being visited by the angel
and Joseph hesitating
about John the Baptist and his beheading
about the dove that

flew

over the head of that Judean.

It was a fresh translation
like fresh smoke belching from
the barely moving cars on the intersection
before the slope to Aurora Hill

pushing

long dormant synapses in my brain.

I had a six-day streak (I think)
five chapters a day

more

than what I used to read when I was a minister.

I bought the Bible in July.
It is now December as I open it

again,

the bookmark at Matthew 21.