LAST SUPPER

The disciples did not know this meal was last,

last of a chain that stretched back through the days

of walking with him on dusty rural ways,

held by his love though, in truth, they could not grasp

his teaching. Nothing prepared them for his strange

sorrowing exaltation, for his strong

appeal for love and unity, his long,

unfathomable farewell that slowly ranged

from his own loss to the Paraclete he would send.

He gave them nothing to ease their deep distress

except to say their suffering was his.

And, though he now began to call them “Friends,”

he rose alone among them from his seat

and, towel-girt, took the servant’s place and washed their feet.