I.
this is the night
we walk backwards
into blindness
into silence
this is the daybreak
we bear unrecognized
hosannas
on our burning tongues.
II.
it is walking
into a grave
within oneself
entering
this cavern within
the ribs
it is the shouting
of men gone mad
with the world
the tearing
of something
irrevocable.
III.
you must let yourself
be pierced
to be healed
you must accept
the lancing
of this universal wound.
stay so close
to the suffering
that it transfigures you.
watch the holy one
open wide his body
like a flame
and cauterize our dying
by his own.
Jenna Funkhouser is a multi-genre writer with published work in faith-based publications such as Voices of Justice as well as on her website, Downwind of Grace. Her first collection of poetry, Pilgrims I Have Been, was published in October 2020. She sees her role as a poet as tracing the quiet workings of grace and is especially influenced by sacramental imagery and thought.