1.
The Color of Redemption
I can’t bear to think
of His beautiful dark skin
ripped down to muscle.
2.
Lapis Lazuli
More precious than gold,
this deep blue embodies the
Mother of Jesus.
3.
Holy Reflection
Only light as pure
as reflects from God’s own Son
can mirror His love.
© Marie Elena Good 2026
Though innocent, Jesus was still crucified.
Enormous, the evidence that He had died,
He lives, per the witnesses who testified.
But not just per witnesses back in the day -
I know Him and know that He hears when I pray.
I feel His strong presence along my pathway.
I knew Him before I became a schoolchild.
His unequaled love leaves me awed and beguiled.
All thanks be to Him we’re with God, reconciled.
© Marie Elena Good, 2024
Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
The science proved to
the many eyewitnesses
that Jesus was dead.
More eyewitnesses
prove historically to us
that Jesus now lives.
#seventeenintwentyfour
“Let earth receive her King.”
King of Uncommon Love
Where are the humble kings?
Those who do nothing
but what their father tells them to do?
Where are those who set aside power
who leave glory
who serve
who wash the feet
of friend and foe
who wear sandals
who cook fish on the shore
who feed multitudes
with a few fish and rolls
who change water to wine
for wedding guests
who walk with, feed, and touch
those deemed unclean
who spend time
with those others shun
who come not to judge,
but to save
who give their lives for their people.
Where is a King of uncommon love?
Look to a manger.
Look to a cross.
Then come.
Come,
let us adore Him.
© Marie Elena Good, 2022
GIFT
What is the best gift but food for one who is hungry, and drink for one who thirsts? For those who feel most unlovable, love feels most crucial, yet most inaccessible. For those who’ve done wrong, the most meaningful gift is forgiveness in full. For this, God set His power aside to be born of a virgin as a helpless newborn boy, reliant on a woman’s breast for nourishment, heart for love, and her tutelage and care for survival and growth. For this, Christ Jesus came: to feed, to love, to quench, and to fully forgive.
The extravagance
of the season, embodied:
God wrapped in infant.
© Marie Elena Good, 2022
(Full disclosure: I decided to write this haibun, using the final 17 syllables I’d written many years ago. May the Gift of this season settle into your own heart.)
Painting by Akiane Kramarik “The world waits for a miracle. The heart longs for a little bit of hope.” ~ Light of the World, Lauren Daigle Now, We Wait. His feet left Paradise to touch earth’s soil as we, embroiled in distress, tried to access His heart. Some walked with Him, and He unlocked their closed souls - leaving their lack exposed and showing them His plenty in the face of His poverty. They learned Him. They loved Him. But the moment He upturned death, they truly knew Him. And now, we wait for His return. We yearn for the Prince of Peace to increase, and our anguish, decrease. Light of the World, right us. Lift us. Gift us hearing ears, seeing eyes, and hope, realized. © Marie Elena Good, 2022 P.S. I LOVE this painting!
The week leading up
to the most sacred of our
Christian holidays
looks back on events
saturated with the love
of our Lord Jesus,
impregnated with
prophesies being fulfilled
in His light and life:
Some, miraculous.
Some, endearing. Some, baffling.
Others, horrific.
A dizzying week.
A hill of execution.
A crucifixion.
But …
I believe that the
road to Golgotha began
in a feeding trough
where a virgin girl
gave birth to a baby boy
who already knew
the way.
© Marie Elena Good, 2022
He is risen, indeed!
How do I respond
to such an oblivious
question of this man?
Why, sir, do I weep??
I have been weeping nonstop
for the last two days.
What I lived Friday
I can never un-live, nor
ever put to rights.
And then, yesterday,
the loss began to sink in.
I could not face it.
Now, today, even
His buried body is gone,
and my life, with it.
You ask why I weep?
What kind of question is that?
How can I not weep?
But I don’t say that.
All I can muster is, “Where,
sir, have you laid Him?”
Compassionately,
almost playfully, this Man
says only my name.
I nearly collapse.
Only one Man has kept my
name safe on His lips.
The tears continue,
but they are no longer the
tears of yesterday.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” ~ John 20:15
“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” ~ Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Luke 23:34)
Tortured at their hands,
my Messiah didn’t wait
for apologies.
© Marie Elena Good, 2021
In response to Robert Lee Brewer’s 2021 April PAD Challenge: Day 17 – Writer’s Digest (Day 17: Write a Waiting poem.)
Pondering the blood-drenched tree
There but for His mercy, me
Tear-stained face, I bow the knee
Hallelujah! He is risen!
Low, for me His blood was drained
Love entombed, yet not contained
Absolution, as ordained
Hallelujah! He is risen!
(c) Marie Elena Good, 2013
pictured words 