GOOD FRIDAY

TIMELESS CROSS

.

There is a power in the cross

Wherever it is raised

Even in the cleric-garbed enclave

Of a Clare Good Friday church

With a bishop in attendance,

Here ,midst purple-sheathed statues

And the lingering scent of wax

The flame of the gospel 'dymos'

Rages through the sanctimonious air,

Tearing temple drapes in two

As once it did mllenia ago,

When outside the city wall He,

The maker of heaven and earth

Hung between this world and the Next,

Impaled on that hilltop tree

An offering for all our bleeding sores.

.

And as He gave up the ghost

The graves yielded theirs

Death itself released

By the power of that

Hell-harrowing cross.

.

And earlier this afternoon

On a sunny Good Friday,

Midst the swirl of episcopal robes ,

The cross again brought me to my knees

In tearful, grateful wonder.

.

Gerard O'Shea