Eternal Sacrifice
Oaken door swung sudden shut
Mutes time’s persistent knock,
And leads like ancient portal
Into hushed immortal space -
Vast Eternity hidden,
Infusing
Silent incense rising.
I, time’s traveler,
Invited guest, from
byway and highway
To the Lamb’s high feast.
Breathe heady air of Heaven, no longer
That of earth.
And yet, am not afraid.
Divinity treads this holy ground,
Gathers ashes of centuried-prayers
And stirs them into flame.
All times are here within this finite space,
To watch and wait.
King’s fate, eternally offered in
Echoes of mercy’s sweet, though somber song.
Creep martyrs close to Champion’s feet
To kiss the rubied wine of sacrifice
With which they are inebriate.
Virgins, gentle, meek, who cry
In white hot - ecstatic innocence,
“My Beloved, come!”
Fathers, hushed. Doctors close their books.
Holy Men and Holy Women drift
Where crucified draws all things
to Self.
His Mother there, always where
He is,
Whispering still her Fiat
Her eternal Yes.
To ancient altar they have come
To wait, to watch, to sing.
To shore up me, poor pilgrim
Awkward in my praise.
Waiting, hushed,
swift intake
breath,
The murmured words of priest to
Glorious orient:
This my Body, this my blood.
Given up for him, for her, and us, and thee.
Do this, do this, do this: echoes down the centuries.
In memory of Me.