On Belief in the Physical Resurrection of Jesus*
It is for all
‘literalists of the imagination,’
poets or not,
that miracle
is possible,
possible and essential.
Are some intricate minds
nourished
on concept,
as epiphytes flourish
high in the canopy?
Can they
subsist on the light,
on the half
of metaphor that’s not
grounded in dust, grit,
heavy
carnal clay?
Do signs contain and utter,
for them
all the reality
that they need? Resurrection, for them,
an internal power, but not
a matter of flesh?
For the others,
of whom I am one,
miracles (ultimate need, bread
of life) are miracles just because
people so tuned
to the humdrum laws:
gravity, mortality –
can’t open
to symbol’s power
unless convinced of its ground,
its roots
in bone and blood.
We must feel
the pulse in the wound
to believe
that ‘with God
all things
are possible,’
taste
bread at Emmaus
that warm hands
broke and blessed.
* Denise Levertov, Stream & Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes
(once again, WordPress refuses to allow the spacing I tried to recreate from Levertov’s book)
Image: “Two disciples at the tomb,” by Henry Ossawa Tanner
(Coincidentally, I used him at Christmas, too. When I chose this image, I didn’t realize it was the same artist until I made out the signature at the bottom. Cool.)
