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The Leper

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds
followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him
and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’
he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you don’t tell anyone. But go,
show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded,
as testimony to them.” —Matthew 8:1-4

When just a boy I played in dirt and sod
And shaped neat little figures out of clay.
My doting father said when I grew up
I’d be like him: a potter. He grew old.
Before he died, he showed me how to mold
A water jug, a cooking pot, a cup.
Quite proud of all the skills I could display,
I felt no need for other men. Or God.

I almost had a wife and home. But then
I cut my hand on shards of mis-baked clay.
Astonished that I felt no pain yet bled,
I trembled. All my fingers were asleep!
Then Rivka checked my eyes. She wailed, for deep
Within them she saw leprosy. She fled
And screamed “Unclean!” Since that dark, ghastly day
I’ve lived my life apart from other men.

I tried to reach my home but it was burned.
My friends threw stones at me and yelled to leave.
My sister gave no solace, nor the Law:
The priests said through a wall of quarantine
That I must warn men off and shout “Unclean!”
I found the cave of lepers. What I saw
Was full of horrors I could scarce believe;
And even in that hell was mocked and spurned!

My face became reptilian and lean;
My artist hands grew clumsy, full of sores;
My skin turned stench, attracting swarms of flies.
I lost part of my nose. I could not feel
A cut or burn. My wounds refused to heal.
Disease erupted through my pain-glazed eyes,
And with my raspy voice I drove off scores
Of fools who crossed my path: “Beware! Unclean!”

My life was cursed. Each day was drowned with tears.
I prayed inside my cave, “Lord, set me free
Or let me die.” And then the Rabbi came!
I saw him as he climbed down from the hill
Surrounded by a crowd flush with God’s will.
The Broken followed him—the blind, the lame.
I hobbled on my toeless feet to see
This holy man whose faith outweighed all fears.

The people screamed and fled to find me there
For I’d defied the law to see this man;
And though my face was veiled they were afraid.
But not the Rabbi! His face was serene.
I begged him, “If you’re willing, make me clean.”
He said, “I’m willing. Be thou clean.” He laid
His hands on me as if there were no ban;
And then he kissed my head and matted hair.

I sobbed. God, how I sobbed! He gave such love
I felt the sickness in me melt away!
My skin grew soft, I felt my body heal.
He dried my tears and said “Do not forget
This blessing of new life! As for your debt:
Go show the priests this miracle; then kneel
Before the altar; sacrifice and pray
To thank your gracious Father up above!”

Before the Rabbi left, I kissed his hand,
And spoke the words “O bless the Lord my soul…”
I did all that he asked with heartfelt joy.
Then afterwards, I trod to Galilee,
Removed my robes and swam into the sea.
Embraced by water, giddy as a boy,
I saw myself now blemish-free and whole!
I laughed, I dressed, then wept upon the sand.

My life had been a burden to survive,
But everything has been made new again!
The touch of human flesh! A kindly word!
A friendly glance! The warmth of an embrace!
I’m resurrected to the human race,
Released from bondage, free as any bird.
Convinced all life is grace, I shout to men
“I’m clean, praise God! And blessed to be alive!”

.

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Brian Yapko is a retired lawyer whose poetry has appeared in over fifty journals.  He is the winner of the 2023 SCP International Poetry Competition. Brian is also the author of several short stories, the science fiction novel El Nuevo Mundo and the gothic archaeological novel  Bleeding Stone.  He lives in Wimauma, Florida.

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51 Responses

  1. Bruce Phenix

    Thank you, Brian. This is very powerful and moving as well as extremely skilfully composed. Your rhymes in that complex pattern are wonderful.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Bruce! I’m especially glad that you found it moving. The miracle of Christ’s healing love is precious to me and so this poem is one of my favorite things that I’ve yet written.

      Reply
  2. Roy E. Peterson

    This moving masterpiece is entrancing, heartwarming, and soul-wrenching. I know all the Bible stories well, but your ability to bring them to life in such a great way is somewhere beyond superb. Added to the beauty and depth of your creative storytelling is the amazing way you constructed the rhyme scheme that must have taken diligence and a skillful mind to contrive and complete. You deserve all the praise you will receive from me and those who read your fantastic work.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Roy, I’m deeply touched by this generous comment. That this poem pleased and moved you means a lot to me. I am especially pleased that you find it soul-wrenching because this poem is very much about the spiritual growth of this poor man. The healing of his body is secondary to the healing in his soul and his full acceptance of God in his life. Thank you also for noticing the technical challenges of this poem .

      Reply
  3. jd

    I loved reading this beautifully constructed poem, Brian, especially on the Lord’s day.
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you, jd, for reading and commenting. I’m also very glad Evan published this poem on a Sunday!

      Reply
  4. Mary Gardner

    Brian, your poem has brought to life a moving narrative. I feel as though I know the leper.

    Reply
  5. Mark Stellinga

    Brian, what a wonderfully uplifting story you share here, and in a rhyme scheme that is extremely demanding. In all ways, this is a piece you should be very proud of – thanks for a great Sunday offering.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, Mark! I would like to say I’m proud but must beware of letting my ego ruin a good thing. I find that with poems of this nature pride is dangerous. Sometimes we poets are mere instruments. But I will admit to great satisfaction and gratitude to the Source!

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Rohini! Now I have tears in my eyes too! Your reaction — sharing recognition of what a blessing life is — has made my day!

      Reply
  7. Cheryl Corey

    Touching poem – very interesting rhyme scheme. I don’t recall ever seeing it before.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Cheryl! I can’t remember ever using this rhyme scheme before and I don’t remember seeing it elsewhere either. Have I invented it? I don’t know. But it seemed to fit the story. I don’t know if this makes sense, but sometimes the poem shows me what form it wants to take and I just go along for the ride.

      Reply
      • Yael

        Your rhyme scheme of ABCDDCBA reflects the chiastic structure which is common in Hebrew literature and especially in the Bible, which is full of chiasms. The book of Revelation is laid out as a chiasm, as is Ruth. If you search for Chiasm, Chiastic structure in the Bible, or Chiastic structure in Revelation of Jesus Christ, you can go down a deep and wonderful rabbit hole where you will find all kinds of amazing things. The chiastic rhyme structure fits your poem very well because it structurally expresses the journey of the leper from a point of health, to disease and dying, back to health.

      • Brian A. Yapko

        Yael, thank you for this additional information and this amazing additional insight into my poem and its connection to the Bible. I did not know about chiasmic form., let alone that it had such a deep biblical connection. I’m absolutely amazed! The inspiration for me to use this form clearly did not come from me.

  8. Yael

    This is a great re-telling of this Bible story and I find the chiastic structure in 8 lines per stanza very fitting for the subject matter. The man in the story goes from healthy, to leprous, to healthy over the course of time. The passing of time is experienced as a week of 7 days where every eighth day brings a return to the first day. This is great work, I enjoyed reading this a lot. I also feel like I know the leprous man better now, thank you.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Yael! This is a wonderfully detailed comment which has identified something in the structure of the poem that I was not consciously aware of. You are very perceptive about how the passage of time must have felt to this poor man with leprosy and how it is reflected in the structure. It sometimes amazes me after writing a poem that I — and others — may find echoes and allusions and assonances and metrical support and form connections to the subject-matter that seem to have landed on the page seemingly of their own volition!

      Reply
  9. Joseph S. Salemi

    An interesting dramatic monologue, addressed to no one in particular except the reader. The rhyme scheme (ABCDDCBA) is such that it is not immediately noticeable — I only caught it on the second reading — and this serves the purpose of keeping with the colloquial immediacy of the speaker. He is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude, and a more directly visible rhyme would have distracted our attention from that.

    Brian’s epigraph is from the version of the story in Matthew. In Mark, we have the additional information that the healed leper disregarded the warning of Jesus, and went around loudly proclaiming what had happened, thereby forcing Jesus to hide Himself and shun publicity. I think that if the poem had dealt with this issue at the end (perhaps by letting the leper say that his joy was so boundless that he just had to speak out to the world), it would have added a touch of interesting tension, and also have suggested the scriptural issue of the unresolved conflict in the Gospels between gnostic secrecy and public proclamation.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, Joe, for reading and commenting — especially your detailed notes on the rhyme scheme and the purpose behind it. I did indeed want a rhyme scheme here (meaning I did not want to write this piece in blank verse), but I did not want it to be obtrusive. There are times when rhyme can feel “shoehorned in” and actually undermine the subject. But at the same time rhyme offers so many poetic advantages that it’s hard to give up. And with a biblical theme, rhyme helps impart a slightly archaic formalism that I found desirable but which I did not want to sabotage the conversation tone of the leper. Here the thinking was to keep the rhymes regular but remote so that A did not return as a rhyme until the 8th line of each stanza. This way inappropriate “preciousness” was avoided.

      A very interesting thought to include the Mark addition of consequences regarding the leper’s lack of restraint. I would not say no to such a change but almost consider that as a potentially interesting idea for a companion piece. As for the existing poem, it was very important to me — for personal reasons — to keep the spotlight on this poor speaker’s recovery and spiritual journey from agnostic indifference to enthusiastic believer. I still feel the spotlight belongs on the leper’s abounding joy (this is really his story rather than Christ’s) but will consider a future Mark-inspired poem. The unresolved conflict between gnostic secrecy and public proclomation deserves to be explored. In fact, I’m warming to the idea. Thank you for the poetic inspiration!

      Reply
  10. Patricia Allred

    Brian, quite a uniqoe and powerful piece!
    As Joseph said, i did not notice the rhyme scheme at all! I was so taken by the sufferings of the leper and then his healing by the Christ. Gratitude is a virtue that not all have……with gratitude, the door to peace and love opens. It is then, that humans can love and expeience joy fully. Well done, my friend!

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Patricia, thank you so much for this kind comment! Gratitude is a hugely important virtue and I’m glad you shine a spotlight on how it is indeed the door to peace and love. My own gratitude is deep for generous readers and friends such as yourself!

      Reply
  11. jd

    Hello again, Brian. It’s even more fitting that your poem appeared today on which day the Gospel in the Traditional rite spoke of the 10 lepers who called to Christ as He was passing by on His way to Jerusalem and asked for healing. Being healed, only one returned to Him with thanks and I like to think it was the one you wrote about.

    Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      I was impress by that too. God seems to have overseen the scheduling of this poem for this particular Sunday.

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      What a beautiful comment, jd! I have heard it said that there is no such thing as coincidences — that what we see as a coincidence is simply God wishing to remain anonymous. Well, in light of the Gospel reading I’m doubly glad that Evan chose this day for publication1 Thank you again!

      Reply
  12. Warren Bonham

    What a great imagining of the back story behind the healing of the leper. The details were amazing as was the execution (including the unusual rhyming scheme).

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Warren! I am especially grateful for your noticing the many details I invented to fill in the story. I was particularly pleased by the idea of having the leper be a potter as this yielded some interesting theological resonances for me. As for that rhyme scheme, it also allowed for formal rhyming poetry but which mirrored blank verse in terms of having the rhymes be unobtrustive.

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much Cynthia! I’m so happy that this poem pleased you!

      Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Hallelujah indeed! I echo your beautiful sentiment! Thank you, Peg, for reading and commenting!

      Reply
  15. Shamik Banerjee

    In addition to your immersive story-telling and the perfect meter throughout, the message—the God he despised was the same God who stood with him when everyone else had abandoned him—stands out. Absolutely beautiful! I think anyone reading this will not only be filled with hope but with an increased rush of love for the Lord and his sacrifice. Bless you, Brian.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Shamik, for this deeply moving comment. I’m so glad you were able to follow the leper’s spiritual journey and how he was finally brought into the light. I’m thrilled to think this man’s life might result in an increased rush of love for the Lord and His sacrifice! That would be such a gift to me as the poet! It’s amazing to me that the Bible is filled with the stories of people — a line here, two lines there, mostly anonymous — which by themselves would be wonderful stories of faith and hope but which do not get the full attention they deserve. Yet each one is testimony.

      Reply
  16. Laura

    Until reading your poem, I never thought of the lepers’ perspective and the sentence their fate brought to them. I felt a bit like a cheerleader as the story progressed. The rhythm was well paced.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Laura. We’re on the same page because I never thought of him either. But I’d always heard the story and I wondered, “what if…?” It’s easy enough to identify with suffering a hardship which could only be overcome by the intervention of God. I think we’ve all been there. And that, in turn, made me think that the leper in this story might speak for many.

      Reply
  17. ABB

    Brian, along with others, I love the unique reversing rhyme scheme that mirrors the leper’s reversal of fortune, and I also did not notice it at first. By the time we get to the second ‘A’ rhyme we have forgotten about the first one, reflecting the leper’s own status as a forgotten person. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but with art I want to think everything is intentional.

    The gradual decay of the body beginning with the skin becoming reptilian, hands becoming clumsy, etc, builds powerfully with each line. Couldn’t help but think of the end of Ben Hur here. A terrible disease made worse by the stigma, though I’ve read it’s not as highly contagious as was once thought. In the final stanza the speaker’s joy and gratitude really come through, and the reader feels these emotions as well. It’s not easy to express this without going overboard, but you manage it well. Am reminded a bit of Frank Capra movies with the wide swing from negative to positive that his characters endure. You show the tragedy and realism first, which makes the climax truly inspirational in a way that lame faith-based films today so often are not.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you for this very detailed and insightful comment, Andrew! I love your thoughts on the rhyme scheme. I did indeed like the “reversal” aspect of the A-B-C-D-D-C-B-A. I use reversal a lot in this poem (contrast the attitude to God in stanza 1 with the very end.) But the idea of the second A reflecting “forgotten person” status is completely novel to me. Novel, but really clever. And now that you’ve brought it up it’s hard for me to not read it that way. Sometimes a poem gives the writer gifts of which he was never consciously aware. I’m sure you must have moments when you look back at something you’ve written astonished to find something literarily significant that you didn’t even realize you had put in there! Sometimes it just “works” and we don’t always know why. The Muse is a funny thing.

      Thank you so much for bringing up Ben Hur and Frank Capra! I confess that my poetry is often deeply informed by movies and when I wrote about this leper — especially his life in the cave and then the gasps and fear he provokes by entering the city — I had Judah Ben Hur’s mother and sister very much in the back of my mind.

      As for Frank Capra, he’s one of my favorite old-time directors and I love the optimism he expresses in his movies even when his characters are terribly challenged. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of my favorite films along with “You Can’t Take It With You.” To have my work remind you of him is deeply satisfying to me. Thank you for that!

      Reply
  18. C.B. Anderson

    Executing a longish poem about a recorded event is difficult enough, but to do so with rhymes that exhibit the grace and aplomb of a Longfellow is something else again. To see what I’m talking about, read, for instance, Longfellow’s “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” (though one may disregard its counter-prophetic ending).

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, C.B.! To be considered even casually in the same breath as Longfellow is more than a poet could ever wish for. Thank you for referring me to “The Jewish Cemetery…” It’s a poem I’ve never heard of before. It’s amazing! The counter-prophetic ending is indeed pessimistic. Historically, the Jews have often been counted out and yet God always seems to have other plans. Longfellow wrote this in 1854 and had no reason in the world to imagine the resurrection of a Jewish nation. What is especially interesting to me is that the Jewish names he reflects on are “Alvares” and “Rivera.” These were therefore Sephardic Jews who had probably fled the Inquisition. Many such stopped first in the Netherlands and then ended up in America. When I lived in New Mexico, there was much lore about Sephardic Jews who had escaped the Inquisition by coming to the farthest reaches of the New World and who forgot their Jewish roots but, as what are termed “Crypto-Jews,” still kept kosher and lit candles on Friday nights –without ever understanding why. But that’s another story. Sorry for the digression which you and Longfellow inspired. Thanks again, C.B. for the rich comment and deep compliment!

      Reply
  19. Margaret Coats

    REPETITION as well as rhyme flows deep in the art of this poem. This is obvious and appropriate to the story in the repetition of “unclean.” “Clean” also serves as a rhyme word and is also repeated within lines. Notice how other rhyme words do the same, sometimes as rhymes in other stanzas: clay, fled, boy, eyes, tears, God, free, see, men, hand, pray, law, embrace. The rhyme word “burned” comes up again in “cut or burn,” where “cut” exemplifies a word with no part in the rhyme scheme, yet gaining significance through repetition. Words don’t turn up again just because they suit the story and are needed. These repetitions work contrary to the common creative desire for synonyms, especially in longer poems, but here they perform artistic functions, as reminders or contrast or emphasis–especially “sobbed” twice in a single line! Note as well: pain, water, screamed, grew, kissed, bless, life, priests, home, cave, and Rabbi. With such a number of words to cite, these repetitions must be a deliberate choice of vocabulary and style. Like the rhyme scheme, they don’t strike the reader immediately, but by the end of the poem, certainly suggest the value of looking back or reading again. This is an emotional poem satisfactory at one hearing, but clearly rewarding further readings and analysis as well.

    The LAW for leprosy in the book of Leviticus (chapters 13 and 14) explains some touches. That burned home in stanza 3 might seem a cruel way for neighbors to make sure the leper never comes near them again, but there is a “leprosy of houses” requiring destruction if not cured by new plaster or removal of a few stones. Normally a leprous house would be disassembled and materials taken out of town to an unclean place, but burning is prescribed for leprous garments. All this does reflect on the individual leper of the poem, because he seems to have suffered every ill caused by the disease. Leprosy is seen in his eyes on a dark, ghastly day, implying loss of vision. His hands are affected and he loses toes, thus becoming in every physical and spiritual manner one of the broken, blind, and lame who want to see and follow Jesus. The Rabbi kisses his head as a specific cure for the “leprosy of the head” mentioned in Leviticus.

    Yael is right to speak of implied NUMEROLOGY in this poem of eight-line stanzas. There are, however, nine stanzas, with a central one that can be called in medieval poetry the “heart stanza.” Indeed the central lines of the heart stanza here demonstrate the dramatic turn toward healing.

    The SYMBOLIC bath of the unclothed and healed man in the sea of Galilee recalls the legal prescription to bathe in “living” (that is, flowing) water, as Naaman did in the Jordan to cure his leprosy upon the instruction of a prophet. The cure in this story is emotionally different. The former leper can both see and feel himself already healed by Jesus. He confirms his restored humanity through the senses. His “shout to men” at the end of the poem clearly contradicts Jesus’s instructions to tell no one, and thus includes the information about the later story from the Gospel of Mark, especially when we note that this is at least the fourth enunciation of “men” in the poem, definitely declaring the individual’s self-recognition, his psychological viewpoint, and his relations with God and man.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Margaret, this is a magnificent comment which peers deeply not only into the character of the speaker of this poem but also the entire socio-religious milieu in which he exists. Your insights in some respects astound me because of what you mine from this poem.

      First, let me start with Leviticus. I did not write this poem inspired by Matthew. I actually began writing this poem a month or so after I had finished reading Leviticus in my “Genesis to Revelation” marathon of getting through the Bible. (I’m finally up to the Gospel of John.) I was struck by the extensive focus on lepers and leprosy, the quarantine, the shouting of “unclean” etc. From the focus on leprosy, one would think it was the only disease suffered by our biblical ancestors. So I appreciate your giving details on the way leprosy was regarded under Mosaic Law. It was more than a disease. It was a curse. And yes, my poor leper does indeed suffer every possible symptom of the disease, from eyes to toe.

      What no one has yet mentioned or asked is the “why?” Why does this man develop leprosy? Since this is my poetic creation who has no actual backstory in the Bible, I felt there should be a reason why he gets sick and then a reason why he gets cured. And for me it’s all about everyone’s favorite deadly sin: Pride. In stanza one he is specific about the pride he feels in his work such that he needs neither men nor God. Well, be careful what you wish for. But take it one step further. I was careful to make him a potter because that allowed me thematically to have him take on a God-like role. Like God the potter, the speaker is a creator. But he arrogantly mistakes himself for The Creator. This is a fatal flaw. He is then purged of all this pride and arrogance through the taking away of everything that mattered to him – even his artist fingers. And it is only when he finally reaches out to God in abject humility that his life begins over again. This is the story of spiritual sickness and death and then spiritual rebirth if not literal resurrection. And, it becomes abundantly clear that this rebirth is dependent solely on God’s grace. The speaker could not heal himself.

      Along the lines of this character arc you and Dr. Salemi have both brought up the point of his “shout to men” which contradicts the instructions of Jesus. Oh, absolutely. Yes, he did indeed fail to keep that instruction. But this was also his very flawed, human reaction to being healed. How could he NOT shout? He had been restored to life when he thought he was dead! And then he’s not supposed to tell anyone? That is inconceivable to me. As you and others on this site know (and I have made it no secret) I have great personal familiarity with the process of recovery from alcoholism ( I have been sober since 1996 solely by virtue of God’s grace.) I have personal experience with my speaker’s giddy state of mind. One of the founders of AA, usually referred to as Dr. Bob, mentions in his dramatic personal story the extraordinary happiness and relief he felt in being cured of this terrible disease and that he simply had to go among those still suffering and tell everyone all about it. I’ve never forgotten that passage in his story because I understood it well. Only those who have nearly died can know the extraordinary freedom and relief of having your life given back to you. That giddy NEED to share is what I lent to the leper. So even though he failed to follow instructions, I can’t help but think Jesus gave him a wink and a pass knowing that a healed leper would be among the best of proselytizers. Perhaps this doesn’t adequately deal with the passage in Mark, but it is certainly human nature and the character of this man whose life has been miraculously restored! I could have had him say “I just can’t help violating what my Healer told me to do” but that, I think, would add an element that detracts from this man’s pure, utter joy.

      A few additional things. You are so very right about the Repetitions that you identify. “Unclean” was meant to be spoken multiple times almost as a droning theme (“Quoth the leper…” ) until it could finally be replaced by “Clean.” Other repetitions also were brought in (thank you for noting the emphasis of “sobbing”) in part to reflect the circle of the potter’s wheel and this man’s full circle journey from arrogant creator to humble creation. Also, this is a man who is not book-educated. He does not have the vocabulary that someone like Nicodemus might.

      Lastly, thank you for bringing up that symbolic bath! It reflects two things actually: one is the ritual bath in the mikvah which was (still is!) a staple of Judaism which ritually makes the unclean clean; the second is baptism, which does not explicitly take place here but, I think, does symbolically given this man’s immersion in the Sea of Galilee and the fact that the Sea does not reject him but “embraces” him. That ACCEPTANCE is why when he ends up back on the sand he weeps for joy. Certainly it is clear in the last stanza that he has been restored to new life. He has truly been born again.

      Reply
    • Margaret Coats

      Brian, let me offer the jubilee comment on this poem. First I will say that if pride causes leprosy, leprosy is an overwhelming scourge in our age as in all ages. You rightly point to it as chief of the deadly sins. How aghast we would all be to look around and find ourselves in a leper colony! Yet considering the frequent comparison of spiritual sin to physical leprosy, there we stand–or rather, hobble along with toes missing and fingers decaying. Pride is not a failing healed by acceptance (although that is a wildly popular idea), so I am glad you were wise enough to narrate the bath in the sea after the utterly broken leper develops faith and humbly requests healing.

      Concerning the “tell no man” motif found here and elsewhere in the Gospels, I find the best explanation a very old one, and one that also reflects messianic mercy. The persons advised not to tell of what God’s grace had done for them were given that direction conditionally–though they may not have fully understood the condition to tell only when Jesus had come into His resurrected glory. It goes without saying that the evangelists knew the miracles should be told in their works. The mystery of suffering so great as the divine Passion still conceals full understanding. Only three (Mary, John, and Magdalen) were undeterred from witnessing it. Jesus might not have wanted other favored individuals to proclaim their faith earlier–and then risk spiritual despair on hearing of Calvary. They would have, as you say, Brian, that felt need to spread the word despite being told not to, and then comfort in comprehending when the right time had come, along with a realization that it is best to do exactly as the Master says.

      Reply
      • Brian A. Yapko

        Thanks for this additional comment, Margaret! We don’t see fingers and noses missing, but we surely see damaged souls and self-inflicted wounds at epidemic levels! Of course, the “leprosy” we are now discussing is a metaphoric soul-sickness rather than the literal Hansen’s disease. I think you are meditating on the subject and recognize well in my prior comment that I did not literally mean that pride caused leprosy either then or now. I meant it in a thematic sense — as the fatal flaw that at least offered some just explanation for this man being afflicted. In my view, had it been a purely random physiological occurrence, the meaning of the story would have been diminished. Or if the afflication had been imposed unjustly on a virtuous man we would have the Book of Job.

        I appreciate your further exploring the subject of the “tell no man” motif in the Bible. There is strong spiritual power in the maintaining of a confidence between a person and God. If you have ever read “Magnificent Obsession” by Lloyd C. Douglas, this secrecy is an important plot-point regarding the hero’s spiritual revival and growth. Jesus Himself in Matthew 6:1-4 may offer the best explanation of the spiritual power behind this concept: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

  20. Joshua C. Frank

    Wow, that’s an interesting idea, telling the story from the leper’s perspective! There’s so much about that story I never really thought about, which you’ve brought to life in this poem. I also like the rhyme scheme for this.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you so much, Josh! Yes, the Bible is full of people whose stories must have been fascinating. To imagine their encounters with Holiness gives me much joy and satisfaction. I’m very glad you liked the poem!

      Reply
  21. Sally Cook

    Brian, I’v e read all the comments here with great interest – every one has been so different and yet so relevant. Only a poem of great quality could inspire such a variety of comment

    However, I saw none of my reactions, and thought that you might want to add my reactions into the mix.
    o i
    Brian you must know by now that whatever I am, I am no
    intellectual. While I consider myself a poet, and a good one, time will be the judge of how good. My methods are a mix of many things, and crossovers between the aural and visual often occur. and seem so natural to me I don’t always notice them. So when I tell you I see your poem in shades of brown and off green, and that the rhyme scheme seems quite natural, these may not mean much to you or anyone else, but to me they are of the utmost significance.
    Hope this rambling has some meaning to you. Bottom line, its a fine poem.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Dear Sally, this is an amazing comment and I thank you for it. I’ve known of special people who process words and concepts in terms of color. I consider it a unique gift and it may well be one of the things that makes you a great artist! I wish I could see the browns and off-green that you mention, but even if I can’t it pleases me greatly to know that you can. Thank you as well for the generous comments about the poem’s mechanics.

      Reply
  22. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Brian, I am arriving late to this poem and much has been said by way of praise that I thoroughly agree with – “The Leper” is a triumph of a poem that showcases your admirable skills as a poet. The description in stanza four is striking and adds weight to these heartbreaking lines: “My life was cursed. Each day was drowned with tears. / I prayed inside my cave, “Lord, set me free / Or let me die.”

    Your glorious poem is a sharp reminder to me that we often take the wonder of our bodies for granted… it is only when our health is threatened that we begin to understand the gifts our Creator has bestowed upon us, and they are indeed miraculous. I can feel the joy of the healed leper in your words – words that lift me from this page to greater heights. Brian, thank you very much!

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Susan, I know you have so much happening in your life right now, so I’m beyond grateful that you had a chance to read and comment on my poor “Leper.” You are so very generous in your praise and it gives me encouragement that I’m doing something right! But most of all, that “sharp reminder” is something I’m glad you mentioned. We do indeed need to be mindful of the wonder of life because even when it is a challenge, it is precious! I’m glad this poem gave you some inspiration.

      Reply
  23. James Sale

    Very powerful, very moving poem, Brian: a marvellous accumulation of details as to how the leprosy was caught and the effect it had. Not to mention, of course, the arrival of the Master – excellent work.

    Reply
    • Brian A. Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, James! Your generous comment means a lot to me. I derived much satisfaction from writing this poem and imagining the details of my poor leper’s life. I think that in a dramatic monologue — especially a period piece — it’s important to try to bring in details which might give the story some cultural context and emotional verisimilitude.

      Reply

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