Poems for Holy Week (V)
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.
JOHN 19:28-29
Sour Wine
In the beginning was the Cross
And the Cross was with God. And the Cross was God.
Moreover the depths: surf-stacked
Towers tilting right, tilting left.
Pass through,
Hurry now—over the long, dry tongue of sand.
I am the Lord upon many waters, I am the
Rung-out God, enthroned above the flood.
See it now? These rivers of living water?
Tip your wine-soaked sponge to my split lips—
Yes, the wine is mine. The water, too. And the thirst.
-Sarah Crowley Chestnut

Christ on the Cross, Salvador Dali