What tinge of shame
has ever caused healing
or even
refrain from sin?
Only that which forced me 
to hide my face in the muck 
until breath was absent 
and the door of life nearly shut.
There 
where I could no longer 
see 
or hear 
or taste 
anything of this world 
was where 
Your Presence I first sensed – 
cloaked in desperation 
so as not to frighten me away – 
You pressed down into the mud 
and took my hand – 
the beginning of the end 
and end over end – 
now breathing in life 
again and again.