TO JERUSALEM 

With Mary of Magdala and Salome

and Mary of Cleopas, your friends and kin,

you journeyed with him to Jerusalem,

amid great crowds of pilgrims on the way.

Some prayed he would at last confront the powers

tormenting this world. Some dreaded that he might.

You saw their hopes and fears and schemes alight

greedily on him all the passing hours.

The sorrow Simeon had promised you

was sure to come; the troubles you foresaw

in the angel’s challenge could not but be so.

The prophecies were destined to prove true. 

And you and your companions, friends and kin,

knew that power lay in the court of men.