IX
NOSE

And centered between those closed eyes,
your nose shines like a knife; its shape
is like a ray of light plucked from
the darkness. Your final breath
passed through it, your breast quieted
and your mouth closed, after making
its final cry of life. With the last breath
rom your nostrils, the deeps congealed           Exodus 15:8.
n the heart of the sea. Like a ship’s keel,
the nose is what gives the human face
its nobility (because of its uprightness)
and it is the channel through which the air
from the heavens can reach our lungs
and keep us alive. Through it, when the sun
was screened out, you breathed the fresh air;
through it the perfumes of Mary Magdalene,
like an aromatic blessing of mercy,
blocked out the Pharisaical stench.
And when its knife was sheathed, it shows
(like a needle on the scales) your head
bowed down under the weight of death,
and above it, the counterweight of love.