by Kath Higgens

(Romans 8)

Decades of feeling on the outside,
excluded, not wanted,
rejected, shut out –

swept away by three little words.

No great sermon,
no analysed text,
just a still small voice

so loud
as to blast out of the murky water
illusion, delusion, lies,
assumptions, creeping fears,
entrenched beliefs

leaving calmness to settle glassy
around these three little words:
“Nothing separates us.”

Just that.
Stark. Unambiguous.
All-inclusive. Non-negotiable.
Nothing separates me from you.

Nothing 
        separates 
                       us.

Kath Higgens, originally from the UK, worked for many years in the field of Bible translation in Central Africa, before retiring to South Africa. She has worked as linguist, anthropologist and teacher, and though poetry has long been a passion, she has come late to writing her own.