“Do your best to come before winter" (2 Tim 4:21)—it is not a misuse of Scripture if I let that be said to me.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, New York; June 26, 1939.

do your best to come to me before winter

it cannot wait
(by which i mean   you cannot wait
or perhaps    i cannot wait)

in December waves will surge
from beneath the sea
and ships be lost in cold waters

hard ground will offer no forage
and animals will patrol the forest
in packs

trains will not be available

so come to me before the snowfall
[by which i mean   i will need you then]
when all turns to ice

already i see them frozen in place
glazed sculptures who have mouths
but cannot speak

no blood runs through them

you will need to share the trials
of the people (if you want to put it that way
i understand)

but I will need you to keep me warm
to bring forth sounds from my throat
that cry words made flesh

so please
come to me before winter
(by which i mean  come  now)