The Sacrifice

Ali Van Zee

11/07/2010

Rising high above the village of Lacapelle

The moon does a shadow dance
Across alabaster skin
Stretched tight over the cruciform shape
My body has become.
Behold!  Oh faithful servant
Of Notre Dame
Will you not stop the flow
Of these scarlet ribbons of sorrow
As they seep into the rocky ground below me?
My body bears the scars of
A thousand cuts
My heart torn, ragged, bleeding
At the edges.

Notre Dame does not look up.

Terrified by the awesome beauty of love
Sacrificed for her fear,
She urges her servant onward
Away from my outstretched arms.
No mercy comes
No soothing cloth to bind my wounds
No sweet wine to quench my thirst.

I float above the silent village

Unseen, unwanted
My presence unacknowledged but for
The play of light
My only friend, the Moon, illuminates in me
This night.