Canto IV. 153 Fish and 3 Lambs

Jesus showed Himself again by the sea,
When many disciples were back in Galilee.
Peter went fishing, and others came along –
Thomas, and James, Nathanael, and John.

They fished all night, but nothing was caught,
They had longed every moment for their nets to go taut.
Day was breaking; a voice called from the shore –
They did not know yet ‘twas the man they adored.

Dawn has not yet come.
When He is not here, how can there be sun?
The earth shook yet again – what was causing this madness?
It struck terror in their hearts, combined with pre-existing sadness.

The women reached the tomb; the stone was rolled away.
It had been sealed – this was no child’s play.
And sitting on the stone, with appearance like lightning
Clothing white as snow, his appearance was frightening.

Their Lord was dead; they’d laid Him in the tomb.
The Romans killed their head; now they waited for their doom.
What were they to do now that men had killed their Jesus?
With Him no longer here, who was there to save us?

They’d forgotten His words, what He’d said many times.
He foretold His death – and they’d doubted those lines.
He’d said the Son of Man, would be delivered over,
Be crucified by Gentiles – its truth now made them sober.

 Jesus Knew Redux

(Psalm 22 on the right, response on the left. Style inspired by many poems of Kestrel.)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 

Of course You knew

You still begged

O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel

Is it enough that Your Father knows?

 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them

Why did the ocean
fling me back upon her shores?
I thought it was for an eternity
that I was drowned
beneath her seaspray,
hurricane of consequence,
To now be reborn
and lift this chalice of life
again to these feeble lips.

My mother, the earth,
dust of my dust
limestone cliffs
of my calcified bones,
chlorophyll of my blood,
sunshine of my heartbeat,
welcome me again,
as you did before,
and take me to your breast
as an infant born again
from your womb.

o sweet exchange
which takes my heart and gives me Yours
the white host asks the question
“will you lose yourself for Me?”
o blessed hope
heart hallowed, held, unhindered
says “Amen”
tear out from me myself
pour into me Your life-blood
and the kiss of the host on my lips, my tongue
says I am not my own
and in the loss of myself, I am found