The Drama of Clay

The Drama of Clay

This is the drama of clay

And the passion of the flood

Bread cast over the waters

Breathed upon and broken

Like God upon the ground

Ugly as sin and sorrowing,

Pure and pouring out

The pelican offers blood

The bridegroom brings the wine

Lo, the seams are bursting

And the chicks take their nourishment!

This is the way of weeping,

Our Via Dolorosa

This is the song of mourning

The rustle of the altar’s drape

And the fonts drained dry

Wait for the rending

In this strange silence

For words can hold no sway

When God forsakes God.

This is something old

That has never happened before.

This is something new

From before the first jeweled dawn.

That God is sent to Hell

And sets His fire there.

Rise up, rise up, and melt the stone!

Make the rocks cry out:

Hail, our King, come forth for slaughter!

Hail, our Victor, stretched o’er the gap!

Feel the earthquake

In its groaning glory.

Our happy fault is bleeding

Cut to the apple core

Pierced like a lamb’s heart

And His brow is crowned

With the wounds that heal.

Original Poetry