Pauline Johnson: “I do not feel the thorns so much today…”
Posted: April 6, 2012 Filed under: English, Pauline Johnson Comments Off on Pauline Johnson: “I do not feel the thorns so much today…”
Pauline Johnson (“Tekahionwake”)
(Ontario Mohawk poet, 1861-1913)
“Brier: Good Friday”
Because, dear Christ, your tender, wounded arm
Bends back the brier that edges life’s long way,
That no hurt comes to heart, to soul no harm,
I do not feel the thorns so much today.
*
Because I never knew your care to tire,
Your hand to weary guiding me aright,
Because you walk before and crush the brier,
It does not pierce my feet so much tonight.
*
Because so often you have hearkened to
My selfish prayers, I ask but one thing now,
That these harsh hands of mine add not unto
The crown of thorns upon your bleeding brow.
_____
Zócalo Poets 