Empty Tomb

more Easter reflections from Mary Magdaline's perspective

Feet tread dusty paths
Amid the dead men’s bones.
Gray dawn waits for distant sun;
I walk alone.

Eyes prick, dry and staring,
Past eternities of grief;
Hands clutch useless ointments,
Hurts past hope of balm.

Around a bend familiar,
Facing yawning shadowed door,
Open wound bleeds darkness;
dead heart shoots pain as loss renews.

Oh, cruelty!
How can I bear to lose this token time
Of holding empty broken form?
Shall everyday torment anew,
Grief on grief on grief?

“Why do you seek the living
In this place of death?
He is not here.”
He is not here; I am bereft.

Grief and loss have blinded me;
I cling with groping hands.
“Where have you taken Him?”
My grief and loss lament.

A voice breaks bound heart,
Sorrow running free.
Knowing fills my emptiness,
Life breaking into death.

He names me.
I see.



2nd Place in Mommy4Life's Weekly Write Contest, Oct. '04

1st Place in the Picky Poetry Contest, December '04