For him to see me mended I must see him torn, Mary's Song by Luci Shaw

Mary's Song

by Luci Shaw


Blue homespun and the bend of my breast



keep warm this small hot naked star



fallen to my arms. (Rest



you who have had so far to come.)



Now nearness satisfies



the body of God sweetly. Quiet he lies



whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps



whose eyelids have not closed before.







His breath (so light it seems



no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps



to sprout a world. Charmed by doves’ voices,



the whisper of straw, he dreams,



hearing no music from his other spheres.



Breath, mouth, ears, eyes



he is curtailed who overflowed all skies,



all years. Older than eternity, now he



is new. Now native to earth as I am, nailed



to my poor planet, caught



that I might be free, blind in my womb



to know my darkness ended,



brought to this birth for me to be new-born,



and for him to see me mended



I must see him torn.