Poetry for Holy Week - II

This offering from poet Malcolm Guite reflects on what he calls 'The Anointing at Bethany'...when Mary, in extravagant love, pours perfumed oil on Jesus' feet...(John 12: 1 - 8)

Source: scripturehandmaidens.blogspot.com

The Anointing at Bethany

Come close with Mary, Martha , Lazarus

So close the candles stir with their soft breath

And kindle heart and soul to flame within us

Lit by these mysteries of life and death.

For beauty now begins the final movement

In quietness and intimate encounter

The alabaster jar of precious ointment

Is broken open for the world’s true lover,

The whole room richly fills to feast the senses

With all the yearning such a fragrance brings,

The heart is mourning but the spirit dances,

Here at the very centre of all things,

Here at the meeting place of love and loss

We all foresee, and see beyond the cross.

-- Malcolm Guite*, from

Sounding the Seasons:

Seventy Sonnets for the Church Year

Canterbury Press, UK, 2013

*To listen to the poet reading this piece, click HERE.