This poem is part of a compilation I have been working on. If you would like to hear more, please let me know. I have included audio and text versions below.
Blessed Feet, High Park, Avery Peters (2013)
Blessed Feet
I know you see
the traces of new life.
The sign of the cross is everywhere:
before the green shoot reveals itself,
it forms underground;
before the sun opens the flower
there is night.
***
That day we wore our teal pants.
The pink we were seeking
would complement them.
We wanted to capture ourselves
in a moment
amongst the blossoms.
When we arrived
the petals had already begun to fall:
scattered on the ground,
swirling confetti around us in gusts of wind.
The green leaves already pushing
out past the cherry blossoms,
overtaking the colour.
We turned our eyes up to see
a corridor of trees, a hall of pink
leading to a gate.
Not yet sure what we were being
called to,
we witnessed a letting go at
our feet.
***
Here is Mary
kneeling at His wounded feet
inhaling the scent:
a fragrant carpet of petals surrounding her.
“Do not cling,” He says.
“Now go, and tell the others.”
She touched Him.
She saw Him.
Yet He is more.
Did she understand?
His feet, she felt,
solid and real.
His feet, the Word, in living flesh,
would return him to the Father.
A blessed, infinite union.
***
The flower’s withering, a beginning.
Each death deeper.
Each resurrection more abundant.
***
Now here are your feet:
your dirty, dusty feet.
He kneels down to wash them
and sends you.
Let them carry you,
as you follow in His footsteps.
Feel your toe, ball, heel, rooting,
as the rest of your movements agree.
How it sends your whole self:
your heart, mind, and soul
into deep love — Go!
Let these feet take you wholly there —
Into the radiance
of light
as you choose to step forward
not for yourself
but to make visible —
To she who waits for you at the gate,
at the end of the pink corridor.
You told her the place.
And she waits.
She waits to hear
what you have seen
and heard
and touched
and felt
and how the story
has come to you anew.
***
***
Cherry Blossoms, High Park, Avery Peters (2013)
Pink Corridor, High Park, Avery Peters (2013)
This is one poem of a series on life in the body of Christ. In reflecting on the various parts of the body I hope to come to a deeper understanding of what it means and our interconnectedness.
The image that inspired this poem was of Mary Magdalene kneeling at Jesus’ feet after he rose from the dead (Matthew 28:9, John 20:17) and how she was the first person he revealed himself to. She understood his bodily resurrection, but she did not yet understand him as fully God and fully man.
Lilias Trotter’s book, Parables of the Cross, speaks in words and watercolours of her deep understanding of the life cycle of plants and how they hold the story of the cross: “And we ourselves are ‘saved to save’ — we are made to give — to let everything go if only we have more to give.” p. 30
Other references:
Matthew 28:9, John 20:17, Philippians 2:5-7, Isaiah 52:7-8, John 17:5, Revelation 1:8, Hebrews 1:1-3
"The sign of the cross is everywhere"; love that