OMG!

His Scourged Back

by Nancy Maffeo

Oh, my God!

Just look at the stripes sliced into your back.

One by one by one by one –  

each one the price of my sins

crisscrossed across your ravaged flesh,

each oozing blood fashioned from my whoredom,

my blasphemies, my pervasive rebellion against you.

And against others.

Oh my God!

How can it be that you should die

in such a way

for such a one as I?

Oh my God!

What can I say for the scars of my sins carved into your body?

What can I say for those silent reminders to me, 

if not also to you,

of your incomprehensible love for me.

Me.

Oh my God, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.

Oh my God, thank you, Lord, for making me whole.

Oh my God, thank you, Lord, for giving to me your great salvation

so rich and free –

Free for me.

But not free for you.