Black falls off my fingers.
A dark coat of Truth covers
me, my hands, all dirty. I am
Too messy for this: the sacred
Marking of penitents processing.
Skin rubs skin, black in between
Ash smeared upon holy, oily faces.
The stream keeps moving. I am
like a rock slowing the flow with
redirecting, grounding. I proclaim:
“Remember
you are dust and to dust
you shall return.”
The steady flow of faces, the wisdom of the mantra
moves my solid heart. I remember.
I remember the softball coach
and his sudden death last Spring-
he is now nearly dust in his grave.
I remember my former student killed
on the street and the beauty of his grin.
I remember my grandmother, and an
absence, an aching for sixteen years.
I remember the martyrs of this bold faith.
I remember those marked by blood in death
in Syria, the C.A.R., Ukraine, Venezuela, Iraq,
Afghanistan. I remember that they’re me.
The stream keeps moving. I am
like a rock slowing the flow with
redirecting, grounding. I proclaim:
“Remember
you are dust and to dust
you shall return.”
Black falls off my fingers.
A dark coat of Truth covers
me, my hands, all dirty. I am
Too messy for this.
Repent.
“Remember You are Dust” by John Pobojewski From: http://pastorblog.cumcdebary.org/?p=3585
