Salvation's Parade

Nails were nothing new To Your callused hands Clasped in prayer Hands that have known blood before Wrung red in twelfth-hour negotiations Willingly holding the cup full of sadness and horror Then after that stinging kiss Bound ropes around wrists Stretched to receive nails Flesh bone split open, admitting metal We now fold our hands when we pray To cover the embarrassment of Spotless palms bloodless wrists Unlike those who've thrust pricked fingers To mouths stopping blood loosed from rose thorns No amount of kisses could remove The reddened streams From Your lacerated forehead Crowned with unpruned spears Buried deep in the holy skull Blood drops soak in Golgotha soil Like salvation to fallow souls Your side may have taken the spear But Your heart In submissive agony Like turned cheeks Was the ultimate tragic division Heart halves torn Like temple curtains As west to east Or transgressions Blown like dry leaves From dying trees Before thunderstorms Heaven's doors flung open wide Splintered feet have known traveler's pain And now this The final step in salvation's parade