Jesus Is My Spouse

I shiver, curled in one corner of our bed

"Penetration", graphite, by Tim Holmes

Yet another unyielding night alone

Dreaming of his dank-warm body,

his tender caresses that fired my blood,

     filling me with the light of salvation,

     now some distant recollection.

Every need must feel harsh as mine!

How many lepers would I condemn,

How many tax collectors fall

Were I to request a night of him?

I could've loved a fishmonger

    Who'd deign to share my smelly bed

    My Lord, must you so test my faith?

I heard Mary had asked for you, they say

You answered, Who is my mother?

See, I dare not lift my head in plea!

I prefer this stoic silence to such death

That, night upon frigid night,

     Lies across my trembling flesh

     So intimately I'm called his wife!

I wonder how soon I'll starve

Here in the stark, long shadow

Of the most loving man in time.

-Tim Holmes