Wishing John Well

People who are lucky
have a friend like John Sieber.
You have to be lucky
because you cannot deserve
what only can be freely given.

Mari and I drove to San Diego,
and La Jolla, where John is
fighting for his life against cancer.
Mari had John as a teacher
at the college where she and I met
years later, and were married.
John came and sat with us, publicly,
when other opinion was that
we might best be small-shunned.

Professionally, John was engaged
in deciphering the Nag Hammadi texts,
Gnostic documents from Egypt
from about the time when early Christians
were trying to decide whose fantastic telling
of what this is all about should be treasured.

John gave his colleagues a translation
of what he had been working on,
so that we might learn more of it.
I recall thinking that madness
cannot be far removed from what we believe.
Hiding humanity's beliefs in a cave
might have been a very good idea.

In contrast, John has always been
the heart of dependability, has always been
steady when the winds blow crosswise
and cranky. John offers friendship.

Now John is fighting another good fight--
this one against cancer--with the same
steady resolve he has always had.

We wanted to stand with him
for a few minutes, as once he sat with us,
and wish him well.

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