Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARY MAGDALENE, by AUGUSTE GOMEZ


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARY MAGDALENE, by                    
First Line: O, lonely heart of a thousand dreams
Last Line: Good and evil—and magdalene!
Subject(s): Mary Magdalen; Women In The Bible; Mary Magdalene


O, lonely heart of a thousand dreams,
Of a thousand loves but one—
Night in the sparkle of Tungsten gleams,
And Sex with its ancient glamour beams;
Yet a phantom host of mourners choke
Desires that mask in a pious cloak.
A sister sinks in the ooze and slush—
But you have risen triumphant, flush
In the flaming Youth that conquers doom,
In the radiance of the Lily's bloom.
Risen to vanquish the tides of Time—
Of scarlet women, the most sublime.
Risen because of The Only One—
Like Peter and Paul and The Thief and John!

Nineteen centuries ago—
As in Creation's Book 'twas writ
From time immemorial—even so:
The tenderest care of a mother prest
Your innocent lips to her loving breast;
Cherished and nursed your infant being,
Till you grew away from her cradle-nest—
Drew away in the dawning's light,
When adolescence perforce takes flight,
And then the breath of a sensuous love
Caressed your thoughts. And yet above
This turmoil lingers a mystic fame
And Fate to immortalize your name.
For a maiden may love and suffer wrong,
Be jilted and scorned and tossed along—
Then out of the depths of Lust reformed.
Or yet another may battle Life—
Thru darkness tramp with unwearied feet,
To garner the dole of an outcast heap
Of common clay adrift on the Street.

Nineteen centuries ago—
Sauntering forth in the sunset glow,
'Neath the plaintive rustle of palms that bend
Whither the careless east winds send
A blast of sound from the shepherd's horn—
(Stigma pierces your heart like a thorn!)
A pensive ass plods his patient way
To a scanty barn at the close of day.
But something strange stirs the restless horde
That shuffles along the Jericho Road.
A zealous convert is telling how—
A pleading Voice is urging, Now!
Whisperings fill your eager ear
To take the place of vanishing fear,
As clearer and clearer till crystal-clear
Becomes this Vision of Truth so dear.
The people are telling the startling news:
The plight of Romans—the wrath of the Jews.
Of radical changes the Christ would bring—
Of the miracles that were happening.
As slowly the veil is drawn, you see
The lofty highway of Destiny.
Here is a multitude carrying on,
And more will join with the coming dawn.
But you have nothing at all to give—
All you have left is the will to live.
Yours to hold, whilst the rest was sold
For this judgment new of the story old.
And men whose pleasure increast your woes,
Now riddle Virtue with vicious blows.
But each quivering blow brings vibrant thrills
To your lonely heart of a thousand ills!

Nineteen centuries ago—
In the cryptic ways of the Holy Land,
The Master wrote upon the Sand,
Wrote deathless things at the multitude's feet
Of harvest sodden with bitter-sweet,
Of fruit which sprung from the Primal Thought—
Marvelous, terrible, instinct-fraught,
Of problems born of the Vital Urge
Thru flesh and blood in a ceaseless surge.
Some may have read what this Writing said,
But just before the Pharisees fled,
Jesus spoke to the motley gang—
Fleshhounds and sycophants fit to hang.
The Tragic Poet, standing alone—
"Who among you first would cast a stone?"
The cynic sneers in sardonic fun
When prostitute changes to cloistered nun;
But it came to pass, the deadliest sin,
Thru The Word made Flesh, the world made kin.
"Go home, woman—and sin no more."
(But they have no home, these passion-poor.)
Yet a secret something squirms within
A woman's womb where dreams begin.
Thus a Saviour comes from the God of Love,
The Author of Grace and The Origin.
From Sinai's heights The Law was given—
Out of the struggle a legend has risen.
But so it is now—just as it was then—
Good and Evil—and Magdalene!





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