Anastasia
Jul 31, 2021
You like me are two people,
Tender and bitter.
I watch on your face both softness and defense.
Is all sin defense?
Does goodness consist of being laid bare
Of being wounded by mercy
So that one’s heart softly breaks
And one’s tears are rivers of life –Christ within?
They say the righteous can bleed
From their heart through their mouth
Like an icon dripping myrrh
They taste iron on their tongue
From contrition.
But the heart that is brittle
Does not break but shatters
Upon smallest grief.
Yet flesh can be made out of stone
Can receive green hills, a staff
Noon-day diamonds and a cloak
Some garment of unveiling
Some apocalypse.