Vanishing Point

They said to her, Woman, why art thou weeping?
Because they have carried away my Lord, she said, and I cannot tell where they have taken him.

He calls you
by name
again and again

to lead you
through darkness
to where you will see.

He formed you
so He calls you
as He made you to hear

and you enter
the catacombs
with death near.

In the darkness
you follow footsteps
as wait to see light

in the distance
down a tunnel
flickerflame lends sight.

You join the others
who are not others
who are sisters and brothers

and you listen
and you pray
and give thanks for the Risen.

Then the priest
commits the deacon
and the deacon takes flight

he sprints
down the dark tunnel
with haste to bring Light.

The dismissal
from the place
of the living

and the dead
who precede
in the procession

after Beginning
awaiting End.
How dark the tunnel

for the distant
who follow long
from the start

where the Light
illumined passage
for the faithful to depart?

Listen for echoes
and follow footsteps
as the shadows overtake.

You look down darkness
and follow echoes
but are in the place of the dead.

Here in the large chamber
in the largest niche in the wall
He is not where they repose Him;

this is not the chamber you know.
Lost in the darkness
by no fault of your own

you listen
amid the silence
for the End to come

and call you
to rise
from the catacombs.