Pesach – Passage, No. 2
This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, come and eat! All in need, come and join in celebrating Pesach!
This year we are here, next year we will be in the land of Israel!
This year we are slaves, next year we will be free men!
– Haggadah, Gerald Garouste, Marc-Alain Ouaknin
The night we celebrated Pesach –
what did he say, what did he mean
“leaving”
and that we knew the way to where he was going?
I was trying to work it
out when another sea split open
not waters humping up like steel cliffs
but a great scythe slashing
through the middle of everything
and him falling, tumbling down into the rift
a passage
where there had been none before
death leering from either side.
I heard the soldiers coming,
swords clanking, down the path.
My lungs burned in the acrid air
eyes stung to see flames
draped from clouds in smoky sheets.
And while they dragged him off
blood blossomed
over the vast lintel and door posts
of the writhing world
and ran down quietly
like tears.
This is a slightly altered poem from an earlier series of lenten poems I wrote called, Love in Small Doses. Pesach, or Pasach, also spelled Pascha is Hebrew for Passover or passage. The verbal form means to protect and to have compassion as well as pass over. Exodus 12 -14; John 14-19
The Praying Life 
Hi Loretta!
Just finished reading your 2 Pesach poems They are very moving. Easter at my church went surprisingly well and even though several regular families in our church were out of town, other people showed up!
I’ve been feeling the desire for spiritual direction lately, generally in response to one dilemma or another, but then another voice inside encouraged me to seek answers from within. Clarity would come quickly either from within or show up synchronistically in other ways.
That being said, one can’t be a healthy pastor and spiritual director without the discipline of spiritual direction for oneself, so I got to thinking about setting up quarterly meetings proactively rather than reaching out in reaction to one dilemma or another.
I’d love to visit with you if you have any time available in the next couple weeks. I’m reading an amazing book by Cynthia Borgeault on the Trinity and the mystical power of three. I’d like to discuss insights from that book and also what it means for me to be a mystic in today’s world.
Hope to see you soon. Peace, Nancy
Sent from my iPhone
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