Category Archives: Lent

The Barren Fields And in the autumn of the afternoon, He waits, he waits, And watches for The cattle yet to grace the hills, The birds not seen yet in the skies, The fig-tree failing yet to bud… In distant skies are storks who know The seasons they must follow, who Obey the times appointedContinue reading “The Harvest (Lent Poems 20 and 21)”

Another flashback: the new king arrives on his mule. But this is from the Old Testament and is a foreshadowing of the true king. This is Solomon who arrives, like his descendant would do centuries later, triumphantly but humbly to receive his kingdom. Noise in the City (1 Kings 1:32-53) Lo, The king-to-be comes OnContinue reading “Noise in the City (Lent Poems 19)”

This poem should probably belong earlier in the Lent sequence, but I hadn’t decided until recently where to place it. It best belongs, chronologically, between Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem and the Passover meal. Here it is now: Late Winter: The Fig-Tree The leaves were there. They promised something – Early fruit perhaps, the firstContinue reading “Late Winter: The Fig-Tree (Lent Poems 18)”

Then, barely strength enough in sinews to keep swollen legs taut for standing, lacerations up and down his beaten back, cuts deep like caverns along his spine, neck too torn to lift his head, he was then crowned, thorns turned inward on his brow, nails hammered in to hands and feet, a way of raising,Continue reading “Coronation (Lent Poems 17)”

And so outside they took him where He was stripped and whipped and there Outside they, blind-man’s-bluff-like, watched The one who knew all seem to flail As taunting him they whipped some more, Called him to say who struck him; Yet amongst the turgid roar Of soldiers at their grown-up games And Pax Romana’s goldenContinue reading “The Second Mile, The Shirt Off Your Back (Lent Poems 16)”

The next two poems, I think, need to be published together, because they flow into each other and make less sense by themselves. Their titles comes from common Latin phrases – “Vivant Rex” meaning “Long live the King”, “Amicus Caesaris” meaning “Friend of Caesar” – and they continue the story of Pilate’s trial of Jesus,Continue reading “Pilate and the Crowd: Lent Poems 14 and 15”

I feel that this poem might need a word of explanation, because I am very wary of it being misunderstood. In the flow of the story, as we move from Pilate to the surprising response of the crowd to Pilate’s request to free Jesus, there is a need to hazard an explanation: why did theContinue reading “Paschal Lamb (Lent Poems 13)”

What is truth? he laughs, And turns his back, A final flounce, a sulky huff, The provincial honcho, His rabble-rousers angry, Too gridlocked to say What he really thought. What has he done? Got me up before breakfast, Set my ulcer off; This had better be worth it. The holy huddle’s cynical tug At hisContinue reading “The Clanging Truth (Lent Poems 12)”

Do not let Your hearts be troubled My father’s house has Many rooms If it were not so I would have told you Do not fear; I Will not forget you. I go to make a Place for you. If it were not so I would surely have told you Do not fear, my Sheep:Continue reading “Scatted Sheep, Dying Lamb (Lent Poems 11)”

And Peter, by the fireside, warmed himself with lies, though shivering more with each burning arrow he fired into his side, wincing and hiding, the thrice-told lie taunting in the air, joining the chorus of the rooster’s crow.