Poem #8

"The Virgin Mary, After"

thy
will be
done, my Lord

take
my life--
host for yours

take
my love
for your Son

take
my son
off the cross

take
my grief
away like rain

take
my body
my faith unshaken

take
it whole
consumed by heaven

take
me for
I am yours
always

*

[This follows the form of the hay(na)ku. I've always been interested in giving the Virgin Mary a voice --people write *about* her, there are movies about the birth of Jesus (as well as his death) where she has speaking parts, but has she really ever had a voice of her own? I haven't found anything that gives her an individual voice, anything that shows she was a person just like the rest of us. This particular poem is only the beginning -- it's not exactly the voice I imagine her to have, but I have to start somewhere.]