I see a man and the man I see

appears to the untrained eye to stand alone.

Only to the untrained eye though,

for above him is a cloud of witnesses,

around him is a circle of friends,

near him is family,

and in him is One closer than a brother.

Still, he, at times, appears to stand alone.

Alone when standing for truths beyond him.

Alone when bracing against the fierce, bitter winds of accusation.

Alone when enduring the piercing eyes of outsider speculation.

I see a man and the man I see

stands before The Slough of Despondency.

It woos him and beckons him to its darkened abyss.

He hasn’t always stood on its edges,

seeming to step or slip into its depth any moment.

But age and failure do often whisper in his ears

and so the bottomless well of sadness and gloom

continue to welcome him in.

What keeps him there I ask, why all the world would agree to his entrance?

Yet he stands, as if alone, and yields not to its insistence.

I see a man and the man I see

is shielded by a Hand that remains unseen.

It folds around him in a loving embrace.

It stands between him and the lonely, empty place.

But more than for his protection does the Hand hold firm

for It does more than comfort when living in the storm.

This Hand of Providence warms life and joy into his soul.

Yes, the Hand is unnoticed by the unopened eye,

but the joy within him, one cannot deny.

Hand unseen. Joy unexplainable.

For what would cause a man to dance inside

when all around him seems unraveled and untied?

The answer may be his loss of sanity.

Or it just may be He sees the Hand that others cannot see.

I see a man and the man I see

. . . is me.

Psalm 33:20 “Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.”

Wil Owens