Nard: she reviews her intention
uncovers her hair, shakes it loose –
anticipates backlash.
She murmurs to us in the hallway –
His word will declare me as Mary
and you will remember
as memory rises with perfume
in futures I cannot imagine –
a promise unbroken.
This is my gift for the journey –
Jerusalem waits for the Lord
(The city of weeping).
She steps through the doorway. My Master,
I beg you submit to my tears.
Included in Poems 3.
Mary’s tears as a rite of passage. Anointing is to purpose, so her tears are a necessary component in Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem and his passion.
Stephen Halliday 