But there was this other part.
There was another part to this victory.
It was the part where the suffering girl implored,
But why not now? Why not right this moment?
And God heard.
(He always does.)
And Jesus stood outside
the Gates of Hell
And he said,
“Unbind them”
And the guardian angels came
Swept gracefully in
By the hundreds
Or thousands perhaps?
On their mighty wings
Snow-white wings
Garments of many colours
Dazzling eyes
On fire
Ah yes,
There was this other part.
The part that’s not supposed to happen.
Ever.
The stone rolled away.
A warning – but Lord, he’s been dead for some days!
(The stench, Lord, the smell!)
The stone rolled away.
Screaming heard.
(A frightening place spiralling down and down uneven ground slippery slope gnarled little caves on each side of the way, hideous, dark)
Yes, into this place
They flooded
With light, power
And grace
Oh!
The joy!
The joy that they had!
Untold joy!
The gates of hell
Did not prevail
Each angel reclaimed
His own
Each angel reclaimed
Her own
Angel of God
My guardian dear
The joy!
The joy that they had!
It was an X
A tilted-forward cross
A slash with a sword
One way diagonally, like this
The second stroke, diagonally, like that.
Swish, swish
Unbound by the tip of a sword
The very tip
Like Chesterton
Just like he said
Human soul freed
Human soul unbound
Like Lazarus
While Christ stood his ground
It was an X
Made with tremendous joy
Mark of the Christian
Upon all
Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist,
Agnostic, Atheist
You name it.
Same X
Made with untold joy.
One moment, crouched in terror
Next moment, astounded
Every offer of freedom, accepted
None left behind
From the utmost spiral
To the lowest
Empty
The gates of hell
Did not prevail
Did not prevail
Well yes, of course
Of course
There was one wail:
Foul!
He cried
These are mine,
He cried
(It was his turn to cry
Outside the tomb –
Jesus’ own face was dry.)
Foul!
For these,
I’ve paid the price
I’ve won these
I have
You cannot recant!
Ah, but I did make the one rule, did I not?
Dark one paused himself in mid-rant.
I had said, you cannot have the children.
But!
I had said, you cannot have the children.
But!
And these all, these all are my children.
Aaaagh!
Foul! he cries, You’ve bent all the rules!
Since when are these “children”?
Just tell me that!
From the beginning of time
All these were mine
Said the Father
Do not stop the children from coming to me.
These all are my children
Said the Father
Full of splendour
And might
And wisdom
And love
Spiralling upwards
Ascending
Voices singing
The ring of angels turns one way
Singing again
The ring of angels above turns the other
Singing again
Above that house
Upwards
The top you cannot see
Gliding upwards
Ascending
Angels escorting
Angels consoling
The human souls freed
How could it be?
Can God break the rules?
Heresy?
Technicality?
What can this be?
A vision?
Some knowledge?
Ah.
Play it safe.
We’ll call it
“Poetry”
Some lines
Some words
Some nothing
Some verse
For the occasion