MAGNIFICAT IN CRUCE

   

                                                MAGNIFICAT IN CRUCE[1]

                                                Three vultures rend the blue Magnificat

                                                that breaks above the cross we grow upon:

                                                blind pride, replumed, and savage might have sought

                                                stability in nails that know the bone;

                                                and by these wounds rich, empty self would claim

                                     the very hour when hunger is fulfilled

                                                and, blessed from end to end in Wisdom’s Name,

                                                deep in the Father’s kiss lone fear is stilled.

                                                But, timed to Seven Words,[2] these three husks fall

     amid the skulls that missed the needle’s eye,

                                     while greening blade the least, full ear, and all

                                                rise in the harvest of a mother’s cry –

                                                our Fiat’s[3] flesh and blood, our last accord –

                                                “My very soul doth magnify the Lord!”

                                                Sister Thomas Aquinas OP

                                                Spirit.  July 1935                       

                       

                       

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[1] (My soul) proclaims the greatness of the Cross

[2] Refers to Jesus’ words from the cross.

[3] Let it be done (unto me according to thy Word)