The empty day

By Rosemary Power

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Scripture: On the Sabbath they rested, according to the commandment. (Luke 23:56b)

On the empty day the women kept
the Law and customs 
of the people.
There was no hope, 
that Sabbath, no angel marked 
the day with cloud or fire.
Stories started, wandered, 
withered into silence
bereft of laughter. 

From that day 
of rest with no rest,
of tepid meals because the body must 
hunger for life longer than the will,
came evening and 
the planning of the funeral rites
the day delayed,
the preparation, of the words
of spice and sweetness that must honour
the one we loved and lost.

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Rosemary Power is a medievalist and writer whose new book Praying with the Book of Kells will be published by Veritas, Dublin, in 2021.

Rosemary's other work on Foreshadow:
The Lord of Creation in His Mother's Arms (Art, January 2021)
In the Time of Covid-19 (Poetry, March 2021)

​Other related work previously published on Foreshadow​: 
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Interview, March 2021)