tommy welty

Tommy Welty is a poet and pastor in Southern California where he lives with his wife and children. His poetry has appeared in Ekstasis, The Windhover, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and others.

emmaus

Will we all race in some mad crash

to the finish? Or, meander to the end

when every beautiful thing is ash,

having ignored the sword caught in the latch,

the finger pointing east to send

us racing? Let madness crash

across your heart, this storm gnash

its teeth against you. Rend

everything beautiful, burn it all to ash.

Stranger, stay with us. Unlash

us from what we carry, lend

us wisdom of the maddening crash

of suffering and glory. Eyes flash

and we see the hand of a friend.

Ask: Did our hearts not race madly? Crash

and burn within us, finding only beautiful things in ash?

Read Tommy’s work and more in Solum Journal Volume IV.