Locusts

By Julia McMullen

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I looked for a god
The locusts couldn’t eat
And when I heard He sent
Them, I imagined hands
Dripping with honey,
Feet like mountains of grain
Not all the locusts
In this dry desert could hope
To devour,
A god who could make up
For the years the locusts
Had eaten away, He who
Commanded those sharp-flighted
Creatures, whose battle cry
Whistled against my door.
But when I walked into the desert
Alone, feet raw from the pacing
This long plague had brought,
My stomach remained empty.
I found Him, and He, a man,
Did not tower before me,
And the locusts did not cower
Before Him. Instead, he offered
A drink, and I lay on a rock
To rest my feet.
My heart wept like a cold
Vessel of water.

Such sorrow, to be filled
Though desolate heat
blistered my cheeks,
Though locusts covered
The field and sang out in the night,
How lonely still to find God
In the desert
And learn I must face it tomorrow.

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Julia McMullen is a poet living in the Midwest USA with her husband and young son. When she isn't writing or mothering, she enjoys singing at her local church and tending to her garden.

Julia's other work on Foreshadow:
Red Sea (Poetry, August 2023)