The Taming of Saint Martha
Monster, if you had not been there,
my brother would not have died.
Why have you followed me
all the way from Bethany?
I come just as you do.
I am here to teach too.
You break down walls, flatten homes.
You eat our young, awful spawn
of Onachus and Leviathan.
Do not rush away. Be my company.
Come here, Martha, sit by my knee.
Can a grown man once embraced
by death return whole and new?
Can I subdue you with hymns
and prayers? Give you as a pet
to my daughters? Wrap a leash
around your thick furry neck?
They will break your sharp teeth,
tear out each of your terrible claws.
Tarasque, leave now this quiet town.
I am death and life, pain and bliss.
I am samsara. Do you believe this?
Jacob Friesenhahn teaches Religious Studies and Philosophy at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. His first book of poems, The Prayer of the Mantis, is available from Kelsay Books.
