Veronica

I, nameless
daughter of Jerusalem
I do not weep

my voice is heard
in the street
my hair is uncovered

self-shamed say the elders, but
Moshe would not –
He does not – condemn

I am sister now to her 
who washed his feet
He gives to me

forbidden and holy
the image of God
in the weave of my tichel

Veronica is not her name, but the title of an artefact. In the poem I have her aware of Mary of Bethany, but I do sometimes wonder if this might have been Mary of Bethany.

Included in Poems 3.