Ash Wednesday 2021
May 16, 2021
No forehead smudge or sprinkled ash –
I joined instead a community
of seekers and healers,
their sacred vessels sterile syringes,
frozen vials of vaccine.
Miracles were worked at stations
scattered across a bright gym sanctuary,
the ritual swift, the exchange concise,
my birthdate whispered,
the puncture caring and gentle.
Nurse-acolytes led me through
a ceremonial passage
from anxious fear to certain hope,
wishing me a ‘Blessed Day.’
I did not wait forty days
to sing ‘Alleluia.’
