Ash Valentines
A Gift On Fools Day
One among us sublime in His Father’s image
The forbidden fruit Medusa in the garden of eden
Gave us the light the Redeemer the Son of God
Long after Adam and Eve were banished disgraced
The serpent offered the bite mankind was transformed
Lucifer manifested undisguised evil humankind unperfected
After the manger the frankincense myrrh and gold
The cornucopia is spread for all to partake
A goat horn of plenty continual all season masquerades
Good times roll the sambas rock the Mardi Gras festivals
Celebrations of life of love of joy are there on Valentine’s Day
On the same day the ash is crossed on the faithful foreheads
The pain of the past an acceptance a memory of suffering
An atonement for sin as the children of Eve embrace penance
Unmasking the Pharisees and the Sadduccees
Healing... teaching... the innocents awed by the miracles
Gathered singing hosannas waited paraded with palms
Hailed as a King He entered Jerusalem for peace on a donkey
Darkness... a black halo alas the stage was set for the Triduum
The agony to Calvary sealed with a kiss for thirty pieces of silver
The sweat blood in the garden
The bloodied leather scourge
The thorn crown the reed scepter
The cross on the shoulder
The three falls the weeping women
Crucified body lance pierced
Laid down emotions spiked
The Redemption from the emergence of the ancestral sin
The collective guilt of humankind shamed from the forbidden fruit
The Salvation seeded from Chaos blossomed on Annunciation
The Resurrection a mystery a glorious faith a gift on fools day
For the Valentine that is wrapped around the Cardinal Virtues
A joyful crying out from the womb of the earth on the third day
A lucifer of life eternal... a morning star Easter
* * *
(C)NDR1.26.2018
Photo: Public Domain “Garden of Eden” by Rubens