Poetry

Passover

Sue Careless

O Christ, our Passover Lamb,
Your Blood, sprinkled over the Household of Faith,
Spares us from destruction.
The Father strikes down You, His First Born,
His Only Son, so that we might live.
We, who should be at Your feet,
Are washed by Your humility.
And Your obedience unto death,
Even death upon a cross,
Pardons us from all our sin.
May we never betray You with a kiss.
May we never sell You for silver,
You who ransomed us at so great a price.

Sue Careless is a freelance writer from Toronto.

Ointment

Marion Schoeberlein
Christ couldn't refuse the ointment,
the drops that stood
like pearls upon His skin.

Mary Magdalene had poured
the fragrance on His feet
a poem of lilacs,
rich and heavy, like her heart.

Whenever I smell lilacs,
I think of her
the perfume woman of the past.
I want to be close enough
to Christ to smell the fragrance
she rubbed on His feet.

Marion Schoeberlein is a poet from Elmhurst. Ill.

 Whose name

Joan Bond

Didn't you see the weave
of plaited thorns and lashed skin,
wounds from spikes and spear?

Weren't you there as light
and lungs eclipsed and death's door
thudded shut by a stone?

Didn't you see inside the tomb
spiced empty linen and traces of blood?
Didn't you hear Him say a woman's name?

Weren't you there in the locked room
as He ate the flesh of fish and drank wine?
Weren't all of you just like Thomas . .
whose name is also yours.

Logos

Joan Bond

It's amazing what words
men die for
God beauty land
liberty equality fraternity
love hope peace

It's amazing that the Word
Himself died
not for celebrated phrases
not for spirited man
but for the promise of life
uncontained by parts of speech

Construction site

Joan Bond

Watch over there
Joseph bearing 2x4s
His rough bleeding hands
Around the lumber
And over there too
Mary bearing a child
Her soft curved hands
On her swollen stomach

Now look here
Jesus bears on a wooden cross
All that weight
Watch Him
Build an eternal bridge
From sin and sorrow
To the Father's outstretched finders

Joan Bond is a poet from Shilo, Man.

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