Holy Saturday, April 11

Scripture for the Day:  

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. – John 19:38-42

At Black River

All day

  its dark, slick bronze soaks

    in a mossy place, 

       its teeth,

a multitude

  set

    for the comedy

      that never comes-- 

its tail 

  knobbed and shiny, 

    and with a heavy-weight's punch 

      packed around the bone. 

In beautiful Florida

  he is king  

    of his own part

      of the black river, 

and from his nap 

  he will wake 

    into the warm darkness

      to boom, and thrust forward,  

paralyzing 

  the swift, thin-waisted fish

    or the bird

      in its frilled, white gown,

that has dipped down

  from the heaven of leaves

    one last time

      to drink.

Don't think

  I'm not afraid.

    There is such an unleashing

       of horror.

Then I remember:

  death comes before 

    the rolling away

      of the stone.

Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early

Beacon Press, 2004