His brothers said, "Go show thyself;

No hidden work makes public fame.

If these things stand, then let the feast

See power joined to name."

They spoke as men still unbelieving.

He answered, "Not this time.

The world can welcome you;

It hates the light that names its crime."

His hour was not their hour.

His road was not their plan.

He would not let the hunger for a sign

Command the Son of man.

He came to Jerusalem in secret,

While every whisper split the street:

"He is a good man."

"No, he deceives."

Fear kept the voices incomplete.

At mid-feast he taught within the temple;

The learned marveled at the sound.

"The doctrine is not mine alone;

It comes from him who sent me down."

"Did Moses give the law to you?

Why seek ye now to kill?"

They denied the hidden counsel,

But hatred shaped their will.

One man made whole on Sabbath

Had stirred their measured rage;

"Judge not according to appearance;

Judge righteous judgment," came.

They reached to take him,

But hands fell short again.

His hour had not arrived,

Though danger filled the court of men.

If any man thirst,

Let him come and drink.

Let the dry heart open,

Let the guarded spirit think.

From the one believing,

As Scripture has declared,

Rivers of living water

Will rise where none were there.

If any man thirst,

Let him come and drink.

Some called him prophet,

Some called him Christ,

Some measured Bethlehem and Galilee.

The crowd became a broken mirror,

Each shard defending what it sees.

Officers came to seize him,

Then returned with empty hands.

"Why brought ye him not?"

"Never man spake like this man."

If any man thirst,

Let him come and drink.

Let the dry heart open,

Let the guarded spirit think.

From the one believing,

As Scripture has declared,

Rivers of living water

Will rise where none were there.

If any man thirst,

Let him come and drink.

The rulers mocked the officers:

"Are ye deceived as well?

What ruler or what Pharisee

Has trusted what he tells?"

Then one night-seeking voice returned,

More careful than before:

"Doth our law judge any man

Before it hears and knows?"

They answered him with scorn,

Then every man went home.

The thirsting cry remained

Inside the emptied court.