“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had cast seven demons.”
– Mark 16:9
I.
A risen Lord
for a risen hope:
may we find you weeping again,
blessed one,
your sisters are calling you.
The women who knew too much,
the women at the well,
the mistaken-as-whores,
the forgotten,
first among many, again
blessed one,
your sisters are calling you —
know this.
We bathed you,
beloved,
into the unrecognizable,
warped and burned
your veil blushing red:
you companion! you whore!
you disciple and priest!
Your rags are turning to white,
to marvelous light.
And still, you reach forward
to hold darkness inside your skin.
You knew what it was,
blessed one.
Christ called you
gold and gone,
good news to an ending.
He cried, whispered, chanted
to your presence
in the shade beside the tomb,
beneath the cross,
along the path he walked:
shame,
name, hid like Peter –
Some of us, we find you.
We have laid you.
We do not know where,
weeping because
we did not do,
weeping for all –
you are weeping still.
Sometimes, I wonder.
II.
Sometimes I wonder
if you are weeping still,
weeping for all
that we did not do,
weeping because
we do not know where
we have laid you.
Some of us, we find your
name, hid like Peter’s
shame,
along the path He walked,
beneath the cross,
and in the shade beside the tomb,
where your presence
whispered, chanted,
and cried
Good News to an ending
gold and gone.
Christ called you
blessed one,
for you knew what it was
to hold darkness inside your skin
and still reach forward
to marvelous light.
But rags turned to white robes,
disciples to priests,
companion to whore.
And your veil blushed red,
and your lesson became
go and sin no more,
your image
warped and burned
into the unrecognizable,
bathing your Beloved
in tears and
confessions, borrowed
ripe upon your lips.
Know this:
your sisters are calling you
blessed one
again,
first among many:
the forgotten,
the mistaken-as-whores,
the women at the well,
the women who knew too much.
Your sisters are calling you
blessed one
again,
and may we find you weeping,
weeping and searching
among us
for a risen hope
and a risen Lord.
To Marvelous Light 