SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER
The Mary Magdalen Suite
BORN AGAIN - HER FIRST UNRECORDED DEATH
Mary is Baptised by John in the River Jordan
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a villanelle
He holds me as a cup of trembling,
from the depths of Jordan’s night,
wordless from his hands to morning.
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Wars, rumours of war, plots and scheming,
I have shed seven burdens, now contrite,
he holds me as a cup of trembling.
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Now a woman to His kingdom coming,
high above me clouds of nimbus light,
wordless from his hands to morning.
​
Galilee in golden air is shining,
in walnuts, figs and olives bright,
he holds me as a cup of trembling.
​
From these waters I am rising,
into the mystery of ecstatic flight,
wordless from his hands to morning.
​
On the crowded shore, His face I’m finding,
from the depths of Jordan’s night,
he holds me as a cup of trembling,
wordless from his hands to morning.
MODERN MARY
an English sonnet
My future is alive and secure
in your imagination. Once, I know
I was marginalized as the poor
penitent and represented low
​
gutter girls and then was pressed into service
as a saint–
a patron for prostitutes
and half-way houses. But God suffice
to say, cannot anymore wear a man’s suit.
I bring my femininity to the Divine
and an immediate and personal encounter
with transcendence. And there always was an
authentic me. Independent, alive, for
​
my future is a alive and secure
in your imagination: safe and sure.