XXVI
FEET

And your bare shepherd’s feet
passed through the door of the sheepfold           John 10:1, etc.
where they caressed the humble earth
with their five toes—flesh on the ground
which was sanctified by their nakedness—;
they were surrounded by the swift waters
of the River Jordan as though caught
by the anchor of eternity while they
rested their soles on the stones
of the riverbed, a furrow in our mother earth;
they were coated with the dust of the roads
—now you are gone, sunken Capernaum,           Matthew 11:21.
Bethsaida and Chorazin!—; they ran
through the grass covered with dew
—your soft green cushion—or over stones
coated with your blood, filled with love
for the poor lamb that had gone astray;
Mary bathed them with her tears           Luke 15:4; Matthew 18:12.
and dried them with her hair;
they were kissed by the gentle waves
that lapped the shores of Tiberias;
they scaled Mount Tabor and made           Luke 7:38.
the rocks beneath them tremble with love
as they were coated with the blood
from the nails, allowing the rocky soil
to drink—soil that was trampled
by the painful steps of the wounded feet,
of those who were fleeing, without
direction or purpose, from the death
they were trying to avoid—the pure blood
of those humble feet that were traveling
resignedly to their death, following
the path of shame and sorrow.
The path that descends to the center
of the black kingdom of departed souls
whose thirst had been quenched by death;
and the dust—remnants of hearts
that once were beating with desire—
now drinks the water of eternity!