Saturday, April 11, 2020

Station XIII: Jesus's body is taken down from the cross


His spirit and his life he breathes in all 
Now on this cross his body breathes no more 
Here at the centre everything is still 
Spent, and emptied, opened to the core. 
A quiet taking down, a prising loose 
A cross-beam lowered like a weighing scale 
Unmaking of each thing that had its use 
A long withdrawing of each bloodied nail, 
This is ground zero, emptiness and space 
With nothing left to say or think or do 
But look unflinching on the sacred face 
That cannot move or change or look at you. 
Yet in that prising loose and letting be 
He has unfastened you and set you free.

-- Malcolm Guite, (1957- ) (1957- ), English priest, theologian, musician, and poet, from Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year, 2012, also published on his blog.

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