"...is not this the Christ..."

i was filling my
pitcher at the well

Jacob's well...
where we have drawn water
from since the time of times...
since Jacob met Rachel
and fell in love

as a girl I would come here
and remember the
story and hope for my own
jacob

but those were empty dreams

five husbands later
and this last one, not really
my husband...

i returned to the well
for water only
stale dreams bitter with regret on
my tongue the
bile of sorrow in my throat

silly stories,
folktale really...
one true love...a stranger asking
for water,
a girl who has a pitcher,
love that endures betrayal,
love that brings healing,
love that surrenders being best, or first,
love that knows no bounds...
the truest kind of love...
just a tale told by silly girls and
old women at a well...

i am tired of wanting
it all
can't "this" just be enough?

can't it just be a well for
drawing tepid water....
not really a compromise,
a concession...
it doesn't have to be the spring-cool
waters of inspiration and refreshment...
a pitcher for washing dishes
is all I need today...

or even tomorrow
I am only a Samaritan woman
why should I expect more...

oh, but i do

each time I come here,
my heart leaps with hope....

the well speaks to my girlish dreams
of that "one, true Love..."

yet who am I to dream,
a woman with five husbands and this
one...not really....

oh no,
it is a man of Jerusalem
what does he want of
me, a woman of Samaria...

does he expect me to bow and scrape
because he is
one of the "chosen people"
I don't have time for this I
have dishes, and laundry and....

but....

he is a stranger....
this is the well,
could this be the one true
love...

the One true Love...

that Rachel found
with Jacob
in a place
called Peniel...

the promise...

and placing my
pitcher on the table I
run to let them know that the
story of the well is true...

"Come, see a man,
which told me all things that ever I did:
is not this
the Christ?"

My one true Love....

is not this the Christ?

*this poem references John 4, and a statement by Mary Baker Eddy on page 85 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.