In the middle of the night, the author is awake thinking about their poetry. They find inspiration from their desktop screen and open scripture beside them. The author describes being in the middle of writing a stanza, hearing a man making dinner alone outside. Their mind wanders to past experiences of leaving home as a child and feeling lost and alone on a bus ride. Years later, a classmate introduced them to a man who listened to the author's story and past pain, cleansing and healing their wounds through his care and the precious gift he gave. The author found great joy in this man, who they realized was Jesus, and it was in the middle of his love that they found forgiveness and the ability to move on.

1. In the Middle
Written by Ryan Jimenez
June 25, 2017
I am still awake in the middle of the night
Thinking how possibly to end my poetry
Yet it is endless in desire to seek more
Words blended with great emotion
I am brightened up by the desktop screen
Covering the doubts of my ability
Knowing that I am a poet with dreams
Trying to leave meaning to reality
Beside me is the scripture that is widely open
As if craving for attention in my poetry
I could not think of other ways
To describe how excited I am now
The slumberous noise of my spinning fan
The mystery of propelling winds
Touching my skin with coldness
How things change constantly
I am in the middle of the stanza
Hearing outside a man so busy
Perhaps making his dinner alone
In his twilight years leaving on his own
My feet cross together feeling the pressing
Running towards my mind telling how it feels
My back has its story to bend down in obedience
Where my fingers keep on hitting the letters
Looking in the middle of the wall in my room
Beyond is the rigid decision that hinders me out
Holding with my palm so rough and stiff
Bringing me to the time I left home then
In the middle of the night I ran at the terminal
With my things for I didn't know where to go
As the bus travelled that cold evening
My eyes watered with tears flowing against the wind
The window near I sat breathed fresh air on my face
Seething hatred became my constant companion
Numbed by the time of words spoken so painful
Feeding my broken soul with the food of bitterness
I was lost and no one to share this loneliness I felt
I fell asleep and found myself wanting to vomit
Getting into my nostrils the hell smell of the bus
Belching smoke sickened me every time it stopped
I covered my face with my 10-year old bag so new
I arrived in the city of my childhood playing kites
I put back my things at my back
To bring to where my aunt lived
Shockingly seeing my looks like a pauper
Embracing her with sobbing noise of silence
Telling the tale of my leaving of abandonment
The slits on my left wrist echoed the disappointment
I forgot to feel the pain where I once was
As time went by in many years of diligence
I saw a man whom my classmate introduced to me
A smile seen on his face made me feel nervous
I sat in front of him and he shared something
Questions were raised and answers were silent
I felt from his soul a concern to listen and care
Tears flowed out unnoticed from my eyes
Words left unsaid started to be heard
The leftover pain petrified by lengthy years
Cleansed and purified by the blood he shed
The man whom I found great joy like a river
In the middle of the flood and storm
Yet protected by the precious gift he gave
A light that shone in the middle of darkness
A souring eagle in the middle of danger
A tree in the middle of the forest
A man in the middle of the thieves
My lips blurted out how sinful I was
The wounds were healed out of love
The man whom God sent to the world
I received him my saviour and Lord
He is Jesus where I found the moving on
Where forgiveness is like a fluffy feather
From the bird of yesterday burden
He hugged me in the middle of love