IV
HAIR

Your innocent Nazarene hair descends
over your shoulders like a waterfall
gushing with life, these abundant
locks of dark hair that were never touched           Judges 16:17; Numbers 6:5; Song of Sol. 5:11.
by a razor. You were consecrated to
your Father in the womb of your Mother,
a new Samson, and this dense head
of hair is a symbol of your strength,
like the faithful who, in living locks of hair,
recline against your breast. Breezes from
the peak of Mount Tabor ruffle your hair,
and like the ripe fruit of the palm tree,
it was warmed by the sun which shone
over the pale dust of Judea.
In the River Jordan, John bathed it with
water cleansed by the sun, as it is now
bathed by your blood. Like the soft
green leaves of the weeping willow hang
over the glossy crystal of a lake
where an immaculate sky is reflected,
and the divine silence of your Father’s
sunlight is falling over your chest
that is not breathing, your hair hangs
down over your dejected brow.

Your ears are filled with prayers
coming from the sons of the earth,
and you hear angels replay memories
of the first six days in which
your Father created the world for you
—and he created it with You, the Word—           John 1:3.
while You were forging your dreams
of heaven. You alone among men knew
the exact number of stars, as well as
the number of hairs on your head,
where not even one could be lost
without you knowing it. And no one
but You knows the true power of love.           Luke 12:7.

In the open air your hair was covered
by the pearls of morning dew
on which the sunlight sparkled
with the arc of a celestial covenant.           Genesis 9:13.
During your travels, your hair became
a pillow when you rested your head           Matthew 8:20.
on the hard ground; foxes have a den,
birds a nest, but you, divine mendicant,           Luke 9:58.
have nowhere to lay your head.
You became poor in order that we could           2 Corinthians 8:9.
become rich. In the open air, your hair is
the crown of your poverty, and your strength.

Mary poured an ointment of pure nard
over it, and in this way she anointed you           Mark 14:3.
for the grave, since Mary knows how
to take the good portion, and that eternal           Luke 10:42.
happiness is only achieved by having You.
But like tendrils of the vine hanging down
from the heart, after the cross of sorrows
they cut down this happiness. And from
those in mourning, drops of sweat caused by
their anguish fell over the Garden of Olives,
and falling on this grieving land,
they were mixed with with the sweat
of Adam with which he, in his punishment,
had moistened the bread of his labor.

Falling down in thick locks as black
as the mysterious depths of the heavens
on an overcast night, your hair brushed
against John’s forehead like a breeze from
the underworld, when he rested his head           John 13:23.
on your breast while saying goodbye on
the night of the Last Supper; that was when
you left us the visions of Patmos, the doctrine
of the Word that is incarnated in a man.

And now grasping the temple of death
with your two arms nailed to the cross,
you knock it to the ground, and its stones
will give us life while giving us death.           Judges 16:28-30.