Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell

Ikon: The Harrowing of Hell, Denise Levertov Down through the tomb’s inward arch He has shouldered out into Limbo to gather them, dazed, from dreamless slumber: the merciful dead, the prophets, the innocents just His own age and those unnumbered others waiting here unaware, in an endless void He is ending now, stooping to tug [...]

Friday’s Child

Friday’s Child, WH Auden (In memory of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred at Flossenburg, April 9th, 1945) He told us we were free to choose But, children as we were, we thought– “Paternal Love with only use Force in the last resort On those too bumptious to repent”– Accustomed to religious dread, It never crossed our minds [...]

Looking at Stars

Looking at Stars, Jane Kenyon The God of curved space, the dry God, is not going to help us, but the son whose blood spattered the hem of his mother’s robe. excerpted from Collected Poems, Graywolf, 2005

Salvator Mundi: Via Crucis

Salvator Mundi: Via Crucis, Denise Levertov Maybe he looked indeed much as Rembrandt envisioned Him in those small heads that seem in fact portraits of more than a model. A dark, still young, very intelligent face, a soul-mirror gaze of deep understanding, unjudging. That face, in extremis, would have clenched its teeth in a grimace [...]

A Poem A Day for Holy Week: East Coker

As I’ve mentioned before, I love Holy Week. It’s quite possibly my favorite week of the whole year. And yet, this year, my Holy Week is burgeoning with obligations and responsibilities and I’m feeling their pull away from quiet, from meditation, from preparation. So this week, in place of posting a review, I’m going to [...]