Gail Langstroth: Ephphatha      

By the sea in the region of the ten cities

they brought Him someone who was both deaf and mute.

By the sea in the region of The Decapolis

they brought Him a man who could not.

He took that man away. He took that man to be,

alone by water, a place away from any other.

And there, the Man who took the man

who was not, took His finger and touched

that man’s drum. He reached into the stretch

of taut skin where bones harden in womb dark

before passing to light here.

By water, in a place between, He touched

that man’s drum, then spat and touched again.

He touched igniting salivas with intimate secrets.

He touched that man’s tongue with His own secretion.

Then, the Man who touched that man, groaned.

He groaned deep and thrust. He thrust His gaze up!

     Ephphatha   Ephphatha

                   He spoke.

With spitting thunder He spoke. Be! Opened!

—

[ed. note: ephphatha is the Greek form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning “Be opened,” uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7:34)]

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Detail from Ephphatha by Burlison and Grylls, an English company which produced stained glass windows from 1868 onwards. This stained glass window is located in Trinity Church in Boston.