Blood, Water, Wine – Sacrament – Paradox Regained
THREE POEMS
Blood, Water, Wine
The midwife washed the blood and
water from the mother’s side.
By the blood and water born, by the
blood and water died
The one whose Word changed into wedding wine.
Whose death transforms the wine to
blood for Salvation’s sign.
Sacrament
When we have fed upon our brothers
And our glutted gullet smothers
The soul contracted, strained to breathe,
Then bring us to Your flesh to feed.
When the serpent’s tooth has pierced our heel,
Bring us, stumbling, to the rail to kneel.
To receive the cup the serpent blent.
The bitter cup of covenant,
The saving cup of sacrament.
Paradox Regained
The Man lived most fully who sought
least to live.
That Man gave the most who possessed
nothing to give.
The Man who filled others hung drained
and dry.
The Man crushed to earth is crowned
with the sky.
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Many of Vanauken’s poems are reminiscent of Browning, Donne, the early Charles Williams, and others, in style, tone, and theme.
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