sitting in the dust
accusers round her, thick—
with pride and spittle
dribbling their bearded chins
fingers pointing, fists shaking, rocks in hand—
the ground trembling with cries for justice
‘such women’ they
yell, violent distaste rolling
off their tongues
one by one, they felt the mirrored shame in His words
until only one accuser remained
as she waited for the airless moment to pass
and a stone to pierce her
the two of them breathed slowly together, seconds ticking, until
she put it down, rose up, and began to pardon herself
Copyright 2012 Jennifer Wagner
I love the vividness of this poem. Your words draw me right into the scene and it is so easy to experience it with this woman. Nice use of this prompt!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara! Hope you are doing well...prayers for you and all you're going through in the storm's aftermath too.
DeleteLoved this. Sometimes it is true, other people can forgive us, but what good is that if we cannot learn how to forgive ourselves.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful writing. Thank goodness there is redemption.
Couldn't agree more, thanks Bren.
Deletesmiles...a wonderful expansion on the scripture...one of my fav stories...as it gives me hope...i really like how you personalized the end as well...her putting it down and pardoning herself...what a powerful (and true) closure...
ReplyDeleteI love the hope within the story too, thanks so much Brian.
DeleteJennifer, I love that you turned to this biblical story (one of my favorites) for the theme. And the last line sums it up so well--that whole process of self-forgiveness. We not to be easy on ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely are not sometimes are we? One of my favorite stories as well. Thank you Victoria.
DeleteSuch an interesting piece. You make it just tremendously vivid and the assonance, internal almost rhyme works well too. Well done. k.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much--and thanks for hosting with a great prompt too!
DeleteWow...the truth is we do have to pardon ourselves, don't we? We are perhaps harder on ourselves than others. A thoughtful write.
ReplyDeleteI think we do. Thank you Mary!
DeleteYou paint a powerful picture. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteGlad you think so J.
DeleteA lovely portrayal of self forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Lisa--always appreciate your thoughts.
DeleteWhat a lovely turn around of this beautiful passage of forgiveness from His Words ~
ReplyDeleteThanks Grace...I think forgiveness is one of the most beautiful things.
DeleteYour ending knocks the whole poem out of the park. Fantastic! We are our own harshest critics. Great write!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Sherry--I agree, we can be our own worst critics indeed.
DeleteVery touching... I really like "pride and spittle
ReplyDeletedribbling"...
Thank you Laurie!
Deletevery cool play on the bible story... i once played the woman in a musical and oh how i can feel her...the desperation and hope and always wondered if she changed her life after that encounter
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered about her too. Would be cool to see that play!
Deleteso very powerful. i really like the feel to this, especially how you wrapped it up with the last line. great poem.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much soul.
DeleteReally tremendous writing, very powerful and compelling. I felt this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for feeling it Dave, always appreciate your thoughts.
DeleteOh! It's like a painting of words. Very well-defined and vivid. I respect and adore this kind of poems. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVisit my blog @ another part of me
What a nice compliment Sayantini, thank you.
DeleteA beautiful poem!
ReplyDeleteChrist and Mary Magdalene? Let he who is not a sinner cast a stone? The last line was just great.Wonderfully done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Abin.
DeleteLoved your poetic take on the Biblical story.
ReplyDeleteThank you AJ.
Deletewow...I held my breath through the end. I hope you will join me and others around the world in creating a gratitude quilt of words. To learn more about this project and how you can participate read the white box at the top of my blog. It would be wonderful to have you be a part of this.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check it out, thanks Laura.
DeleteVery good -- this reminds me of one of the stories of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely was the inspiration here. Thanks yuanfields.
DeleteAh, I see that AJ And Abin felt the same as I. A cool story -- and apparently, very apocryphal.
ReplyDeleteVery well done-love that "airless moment to pass" really held the tension perfectly. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Sara.
DeleteThis was so string and powerful ... beautifully captured !!!
ReplyDeleteI mean strong :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you think so Green, thank you.
DeleteIntense opening imagery that really pulls the reader in and a surprise ending, very nice.
ReplyDeleteThank you rch!
DeleteSplendidly written, and wise beyond words. Caught by 'pride and spittle dribbling' which is very good.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely comment, thank you very much.
DeleteI wonder if one could even do this in our day, the hypocrisy is so entrenched, and the self-righteousness so pronounced. Well-drawn.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not in this manner, but in other ways I suppose. Thanks hedge, always appreciate your comments.
Deletethis reminded me of mary magdalene, very vivid.
ReplyDeleteThank for reading chips!
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