Loneliness overcame her / like a feather pillow / gently smothering / her hope.

Alarm deadened his concern for the victim. / To drown out the whispered cry, “I can’t breathe,” / He hummed a comforting hymn as he hastened by on / The far side of the road.

If I live in fearful times; / With things I cannot see, / Things I do not know, and / Things I cannot control.

Two crownings, two swaddlings, and / One more birth, / As the tomb becomes a womb, / When Jesus delivers us from the final enemy.