( Somewhere in The Holy Land , 372 AD)
She tarnishes beautifully
in her silver age
not from years but sorrow found
in tracing her Savior.
She walks where He
walked.
Dirt clings to her garments
like crushed pigment
that could paint the history
of Jerusalem .
The wind blows her veil
smelling of salt and
cedar,
the burning scent of nard --
The cross must be near.
Her breath tightens
and the lacings of her sandal
tangle in vines by a cave.
She almost falls but catches
her balance. A flame
is seen
lighting the stone socket
and the empress bends to enter.
Inside, two wooden beams
lie in the clutch
of rope and spider webs --
a cross discarded. She leans
over the lengthwise board
and weeps. Her slim fingers
probe the splintering wood
and she remembers how things
loosen then shed,
become relics
of passage: bird feathers, pine needles
a lizard's skin --
and here, the rood
stained with the agony
of Christ.
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Helena was a Roman Empress and mother of the Emperor Constantine. She converted to Christianity and experienced a dream where she envisioned herself finding the "true cross that was used to crucify Jesus. In approximately 327 AD, she made a pilgrimage to The Holy Land and set forth to accomplish this task. According to legend and Catholic doctrine, she found the actual cross and had it dismantled into fragments. Holy relics to be carried home and then distributed throughout various churches in the empire. In later centuries, she was canonized and become known as Saint Helen Augusta. My version takes certain poetic liberties but remains faithful to the idea of how she pursued this dream to find the holy cross.
Nard (also known as spikenard) was an expensive, perfumed oil used to anoint Jesus on the night of The Last Supper. It was also burned as incense in the Hebrew temples and mentioned in The Song of Solomon.
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