Resurrection
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. …… On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe .... He said to them, "Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here." … … Then they went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. -- Mark 16
Because they were afraid they ran, and their hands shook, oil sloshed
from bottles and seeds from fingers, and shadows
cast from the angel fled before them, and their teeth chattered,
and birds came down behind them for the seeds, sparrows
and finches and graveyard mice, which grew bright-eyed
and wild. And the path was rocky and Salome ripped one sandal
and cut her foot, and as she ran blood scattered and sprang up
in great branches, graceful as dogwood, that shattered into white flower
till the whole hill was veiled for a wedding. And the oil coloured stones
until they called up rivers: a trickle, then braided runnels
like the inside of a wrist, and then the round depth of the tomb became
the womb of rain.
__________
This is not at all the poem I meant to write, which included the line "because they were afraid" over and over again, and included such lines as "because they were afraid, they bought two pairs of sandals, and made / good marriages." I may write that some day. In the meantime, the bathtub voice would like everyone to read this instead.
Startling to think this is the real ending of the Gospel of Mark, "because they were afraid." The other ending, the so called "longer ending," is canonical (declared so by the Council of Trent, I think) but is a later addition, and not by Mark at all. They should have kept the original, abrupt as it is. Mark is by far the most terrifying of the Gospels, and my favourite. (Though also love John.)
"The womb of rain" is a rip from Job 38.
Does the rain have a mother?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
From whose womb comes the ice?
Who has laboured with the frost?"
The sprawling epigram is dedicated to Res, who likes them.
4 Comments
I never noticed that Salome is present here before. Is it the same Salome that danced and won the head of John the Baptist?
Such sounds.
This makes it feel real, even to an unbeliever.
Salome — well, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t think so. She is named as one of the women at the cross, too, who seem to have been disciples.
Oddly, the woman who dances in the John the Baptist story isn’t named at all, she’s a “daughter of … ” Since that’s in Mark too, you’d think if she were the same Salome she’d get a name in both places.
Even so, my magpie mind from seizes on the name when it comes up here, and pictures her as a strong-willed dancer in pretty sandals.
Careful - once you start, you can’t stop! Very fine.