I have not met a man
so strong as the snake
who grabbed my ankles
and wrestled me to the ground.
No, not even you, Jacob.
If in that night,
I had a branch,
I would have chased it off.
But the enormity of it,
the promise of its poison!
At long last,
the liberating of my thighs
to the cry of birth.
Forgive me, dear Jacob, forgive me
but I too have wrestled,
with this monster
called Love.
A Season of Mercy
A season of mercy
has been granted us,
this long time now -
history
by crucifixion
has always demanded patience.
House after house
has been built on the shore,
the same fishermen fishing seas
for the One man who spoke to them
from the water.
Some are tired of waiting;
some have lain down to die,
but still others persist
with dew in their eyes
so that even I must turn
this time now
to face Him at last
mercy's desire
granted.
Salt
Suddenly salt has lost its savour.
Love and all that it meant
is now a fragment of a bowl
no longer capable of holding water
but of only the caked white reflection -
a self, distorted and wan
weary with lines of knowing,
scarred with wounds that have truly savoured,
and known no other cleansing.
