Love is Pain

(a poem for Good Friday)

You on a dark

long road

the black hanging shapes

of clouds and branches before you

the stones beneath your

feet pressing into your flesh

night and desperation thundering in

your ears and

heart

The burden splintering

burying itself in your shoulders

leaving red tracks in the gathering

dust

          A tree planted in the earth

          gives life:

          Dead limbs

          with nails hold

          living limbs

You on a dark

heavy cross

the black hanging shapes of

fear and death

collecting blood in the dirt under

your pierced feet

love and desperation rising from

your mouth and

heart

The sun shattering

burying itself in the ground

leaving red streaks in the brightening

sky