I should have been baptised. . .

I should have been baptised
in River Jordan,
drank the heavily sedimented water,
filthy as Flint,
with zero faith.

I wasn’t aware of my illness.
If I had known,
my selfish prayers
would have been unanswered.

Jordan came to me.
Ancestors spoke in Babel tongues
resonating the two Towers falling
in Manhattan.
Dazed, I listened,
advancing ahead, following the repetition:

“You have been here. . .
You have been here before. . .”

I mimicked,
“I have been here. . .
I have been here before. . .”

I was led by visions
and voices heard for months.
I was home,
guided on sandy paths
with semiprecious stones
in direct sun
to somewhere and nowhere,
looking for Abraham, Lot, and myself.

I should have drank the water.

[Stephen Earley Jordan II is the author of several books of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. He has also directed and written a few award-winning short, experimental films. Check out his latest book published January 2022, Gods Mourn Too: Essays on Writing and Questions for Thought.]