Always a work in progress… washing away the past.
Continuing with my transition into retirement at Lent (Week 2: The Bowl and Towel) and thinking about servant hood and Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet following The Last Supper.
Washing Away the Past
Washing away what could have been,
what should have been – the perfect role.
The dirt and grime are not hers to own.
They simply are the situation – the causality.
Bereft of support, no program of structure,
going with the flow is the only option.
Her transformation’s encased in a secluded space
with its source of sustenance lost in translation.
She’s separated, expired, is extinct
as she waits in the darkness, prays for the light
and longs for redemption to rid them of sin.
I was torn between “rid ‘her’ or ‘them’ of sin” but stayed with ‘them’ … simply because I’ve not arrived at a good place yet – at the perfect role.
Someone said to me recently, ‘it doesn’t really matter what you or anyone else thinks of your poem – it is about creating a spark between you and at least one other person’ – so if only one other person relates to this, it’s served its purpose.