The Passion Of Jesus According To Poem by Francisco R. Albano

The Basin:
The Governor condemned the Man to die,
Then plunged his patrician hands into
My rosewater and ringed me with filth.
My sheen caught blue eyes of compassion,
And suddenly I became whole again;
A crack long unnoticed healed.
I didn’t get to wash the holy face.


The Pillar:
Had he been Samson I would have fallen.
He was stronger than my stubbornness.
I held him fast for twenty lashes or more.
When at the ninth hour he died, the earth shook,
And I shuddered, I with his meaning, alone,
But standing, his ropes around me still.
Binding me with his love.

The Thorn:
In my clumsiness I dropped to the ground,
And his right foot fell on me when he made
His way. I embedded myself deeply into his sole.
I helped carry the world and heaven on his shoulder.
He carried me well. Torturer forgiven and blessed,
One with the nail hammered to his feet,
I blossomed with the rose of his blood.

The Street:
The crowd soiled me with sweat and spittle.
I smelled their eczema and rotten sandals.
His cross grooved my back but spared me pain,
As I led him to the Skull. Ah, but I was
A ribbon of winding light before he died,
Before he rose to a full moon, a dazzling sun.
I am the way to his truth and his life.

The Dice:
My self divided into two in cupped hands,
Shaken crazy. They rolled out my numbers.
One won a seamless robe. Did Chance leave me,
Ivory in dust, everything over? With seven eyes
I gazed at his face and wondered if he had won,
Accomplished anything in life. Was I just lucky?
Was I part of a great cosmic design under his cross?

The Rock:
Grave men and an ox forced me to seal his
Borrowed tomb. Then all was pitch darkness
Inside and out, and I died. But on the 3rd day
He flashed through, violent silence, breaking,
Waking the night of olive trees and flowers
And transforming me into a risen sun.
To angels and humans I said, He is not here!