I Dreamed That God Wore A Wounded Skin Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

I dreamed that God wore a wounded skin

almost an animal skin comprised

of all the wounds that were ever felt of

you and I or devised

like peacock eyes the wounds were open

and ongoing. majestic and terrible

I dreamed this was a cloak he wore

that fused to His invisibility and Light and more

that could not be burned off because he would not let it be

until each child's misery came to an end even the smallest

bird brambled cut

and this was his defense against

the taunts of the Enemy of those

who thought he was the origin of pain and willed it so

so He carried Himself and was His own mystery

by His own perfection by his all seeing Heart

and Eye

and this was the coat he wore in season and out

that kept on growing and that he felt what we felt

all of us each of us and all the time and so specifically

each recorded in His skin: lash of the day

eruption within, uprising chained and muted

so that the coat kept growing through all

the sad disputes of his existence and our wars

He was our scars completely

and He moved through time and space this way so slowly

with the wounds seeping and each one fresh as the

day it was made

and that it became Him more and more

He was so one with it

in such a specific way

that when we prayed oh Father help me here

all the wounds sprung fresh tears

and He named them, name by name.

mary angela douglas 22 january 2020

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