{"id":185,"date":"2010-04-02T12:10:50","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T19:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/holydwelling.com\/blog\/?p=185"},"modified":"2010-09-01T11:49:16","modified_gmt":"2010-09-01T18:49:16","slug":"good-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holydwelling.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/02\/poetry\/good-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Whale
\n<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A meditation for Good Friday
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Sinking, sinking, sinking.
\ndeep rest in darkness cold:
\nTide washing torn flesh,
\ndilutes the blood,
\nchills the soul,
\ntossing limbs to and fro.<\/p>\n

Silence beyond silence,
\nCold beyond cold,
\nFear beyond fear.<\/p>\n

Bones lose strength,
\nand sinews sag
\ntheir very form is lost,
\nand what was once a life
\nwith borders, edges, frames
\nreturns to elemental stuff
\nwhere even cells break down
\nand atoms float into the void.<\/p>\n

Consciousness and will
\nno more do dwell
\nwithin, without, or with at all.
\nThere is no where, no up, no down,
\nno time, no space to mark
\nthe passing of a life,
\nor entrance of a death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And each is all.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember: you are earth,
\nand to earth you shall return.\u201d
\nWe\u2019ve got it wrong,
\nfor earth herself
\nemerged from silent sea\u2014
\na pattern in the chaos we
\nlabel terra firma,<\/em>
\ndeluding our senses
\ninto stable cosmos, order, law.<\/p>\n

The very law of elementals
\nwhich moves in cyclic spiral,
\ncrumbling cliffs and grinding
\nrocks upon the shore,
\nas earth dissolves into the sea,
\nso do our bones and soul,
\nbecoming one within the void.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And each is all.<\/p>\n

Yet even there the life force moves,
\nand gently bumps against
\nmy cells that are no more,
\nconsumes and hallows emptiness:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there goes that Leviathan . . .\u201d
\nthat swallowed Jonah, spat him out:
\nBone and sinew, flesh and blood?
\nor broken down to cell and atom, DNA?<\/p>\n

What elemental form is known in death?
\nIs there some cell, some atom,
\nsome electron with my name
\nengraved upon its very being?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The dead return to earth,
\nthat cosmic ordering of chaos,
\nthat quieting of turbulent form.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet is there not a further path,
\nwhere even earth
\nreturns to void?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And each is all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

SC+ ca. 1998<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The Whale \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A meditation for Good Friday Sinking, sinking, sinking. deep rest in darkness cold: Tide washing torn flesh, dilutes the blood, chills the soul, tossing limbs to and fro. Silence beyond silence, Cold beyond cold, Fear beyond fear. Bones lose strength, and sinews sag their very form is lost, and what was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[53,50],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nGood Friday – Holy Dwelling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holydwelling.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/02\/poetry\/good-friday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Good Friday – Holy Dwelling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 The Whale \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A meditation for Good Friday Sinking, sinking, sinking. deep rest in darkness cold: Tide washing torn flesh, dilutes the blood, chills the soul, tossing limbs to and fro. 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