Good Friday Sonnet

Good Friday Sonnet

Suspended on the cross, he lived the death
that looms before us all upon a hill.
We all must face the halting of our breath,
the mortal muscles of our heart will still.
Is this the prospect cringing in our breast
that makes us all complicit in the kill,
resenting limits keeping life compressed,
while God is bounded only by God’s will?
We mortals want to bring the boundless down
to meet us in the tragedy we share,
not seeing that that bird’s already flown –
God chose to die to meet us where we are.
Forgiving of our human spite, Christ died
with open arms to keep the heavens wide.
Barbara Messner Easter 2018