Page 148 - Eggs and Ashes pages

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday of Holy Week 147

I owed him one

I knew what
I had to do
but I didn’t want to do it.

I owed him one –
he had brought my brother
back from the grave
and it had cost him.

It wasn’t the first time he’d done it,
there had been others too:
a daughter of a synagogue official,
a son of a widow.
He knew what he was doing.

And he knew now
that he was going to die
very soon.
His disciples refused to
believe him.

I didn’t want to lose him
but I didn’t want
to hold him back.
I knew
that he must walk
his own road.

I wanted to help him,
but how do you help
someone you love
get ready for death?
It’s a hard question
without an easy answer.

All that I could think of
was the perfume that I had used
to anoint my brother’s body for burial.
What I had done for Lazarus’ dead body
I could do for Jesus’ live one.