Monday 14 October 2019

The woman with the alabaster jar

Mary Magdalene, Jan van Scorel (c1530)

A nameless woman
breaks her alabaster jar
and pours out the scent of life -
Her life for His.

A postscript to the gospel.

A man who need not be named
fills his hands with the spoils of betrayal.
The stench of death. 
His death for His.

Whose life do we remember?


(A poem in response to Mark 14.1-11, one of the readings at Morning Prayer on Monday 14th October 2019).

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