This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by V. Paige Parker.
Zebedee’s Son
I welcomed her into my home the night
She held his lifeless body in her arms.
Her tears began to lift his blood that soaked
Her blackened widow’s mantle. Anguish lined
Her cheeks. Her hands still trembled. Simeon
Foretold the sword that pierced her heart. Alone,
She raised her eyes to heaven, trusting God.
She kept a silent vigil. Sorrows turned
To joy with news about an empty tomb.
Her face was radiant with light that shone
The daring dawn of something new, a shout,
A triumph over Satan, sin, and death.
Each time she shared encounters with her Son,
She pondered over all his words. She said
His time on earth was short, and soon his rays
Of love and light could not be seen beyond
The mountain clouds of Olivet. She could
No longer touch her Son, and clung to me
With tighter hugs, already missing how
His spirit skin felt soft in his embrace.
Just being in the upper room with her
Expectant faith, unwavering for days,
Dislodged my fears. The mighty wind and tongues
Of fire made us like her – full of grace.
Her gentle, loving counsel graced her lips
Each time her spiritual children came to call.
I watched her sowing gospel seeds in rows
In heart-shaped fertile fields. She tilled the soil.
On Fridays she would trace the bloodied steps
Her Son made through Jerusalem. Her last
Goodbye to me felt glorious, for she
Was taken up and crowned my Holy Queen.
V. Paige Parker is married, has five children, and lives in San Antonio. From 2019 to 2021 she was a member of the San Antonio Poetry Association. She has been published in three of their annual Inkwell Echoes anthologies, and also in the May 2020 online literary journal, TejasCovido. Paige is an online graduate student from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, working on a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in the Catholic Literary Tradition, with a focus on poetry. Her poem, “Zebedee’s Son” was a finalist in the Catholic Literary Arts 2022 Assumption of Mary Writing Contest. Paige’s website is www.Godspeakstenderly.blogspot.com.
