after Mary Magdalene
Later you will write
That he didn’t mean it, you must
Have read it wrong,
Have mistranslated.
You will light him gold from within,
Reopen his wounds, soften his cracked lips.
You did not hear the hoarse whisper,
See the hard line of his back,
His oil-softened hair.
You will not know how brief that moment
When his eyes stepped into mine,
How my heart rent seconds later
When he turned to the tear-tracked dust.
He had changed, those three days
In the dark, had grown taller,
His jaw firm.
You did not watch him sway
As I did then, his legs locked
To fight the pain, eyes closed tight
Against the sun.
detail of The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene by Alexander Ivanov
