# Easter poems

> ‘Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do.’

By Carolyn More · 4 March 2013 · Opinion

Canonical: https://insights1.uca.org.au/articles/easter-poems/

### *Easter Rising*

Sometimes it seems safer
 hiding in some old tomb,
 hibernating deep inside…
 when I’m out of hope
 and weighed-down by fear
 *Myopic*  to what’s missing in the dark.

Sometimes it seems wiser
 marching to another’s tune,
 following their timing…
 when I’m out of rhythm
 and mesmerised by doubt
 *Deaf*  to my own beating heart.

Sometimes it seems easier
 half-breathing stale air
 half-seeing in dim light…
 when I’m out of energy
 and paralysed by confusion
 *Comatose*  to my own dying.

*But sometimes, miracle-times, lifetimes
 Blind see, Deaf hear, Dead dance…*

Sometimes life breaks free!
 tombs give birth,
 and stones roll away…
 when I’m out of excuses
 and dare to believe *Witness*
 to my own Easter rising.

### **Humility *…*** *(‘My God, my God!’)*

*My God, my God!* I know they mean well…
 at least, I think they do?
 pastors humbling themselves,
 ‘servants’
 once-a-year,
 washing my feet.

I try to excuse them
 for I don’t think they understand…
 that this ritual
 is performed on me
 daily
 whether I like it or not.
 And I don’t.

Rueful reminder
 of my unbending-body
 and feeble-frame,
 of my need for help
 to accomplish
 even such simple tasks…
 *My God, my God!*

Perhaps, if it was just my feet…
 but I am humbled
 from head to toe!
 excruciatingly exposed
 to strangers
 oblivious
 to my agony.

Such an intimate invasion!
 — being washed by an-‘other’…
 last bastion
 of my privacy
 and independence
 gurgling
 down the plug-hole…

But, serendipitously,
 my sight shifts
 from the pastor’s towel
 to a naked man:
 humiliated
 bruised-body-broken
 hanging on the chapel wall…

*‘My God, my God!’* my eyes join his crying,
 my heart his sighing,
 my body his dying,
 my spirit his praying:
 ‘*Father forgive them,
 they don’t know what they do.*’

***Carolyn More is Chaplain, Georges River Area, South Eastern Region, UnitingCare Ageing***