Mary Magdalene encounters Jesus

THE ENCOUNTER (JESUS WITH MARY MAGDALENE) 5.8.20
  
  
 I turned and saw Him.
 I couldn’t move, for His very presence held me captive.
 I tried to step away, for I knew that He could read my heart –
 a poor heart tainted by life, 
 with its highs and lows, sorrows and joys, truths and lies.
  
 My heart beat faster, making me falter – 
 to sway and fall, as He took my breath away.
  
 ‘Don’t look there,’ in silence I pleaded, ‘at my crying shame…’
 for I could feel a real burning deep inside, 
 for so long-ago darkness had stolen my light and warmth, 
 and left me parched and cold.
  
 Fluttering, with trembling hands, I reached out to Him –
 for I could not resist the gentle power, that would
 ‘Never crush a bruised reed, not quench the smouldering wick’.
 My poverty made me thirst for the riches of this King.
  
 My feet were heavy; my spirit, burdened, but onwards I moved …
 for His kind and piercing gaze drew me –
 an intruder - into a Holy Place,
 as I’d heard much about His blessed state.
 My soul quickened, like that of an expectant mother,
 joyfully awaiting the life of her longed-for child.
  
  
 And He took my hand, as a menacing crowd looked on.
 For shame - what claim had I to bathe in His showering rain
 on this blazing summer day, under the heat of the Son!?
 But His love enveloped me - ethereal and fresh -
 as my lungs inhaled the warming, airy-breeze
 and my spirit, the promise of peace.
  
 Fear, banished by His welcome, made me strong –
 though the world had declared me weak.
 Oh, He had sought me, and found me in my brokenness.
 Oh, he had called me, and stretched out His loving arm.
 He looked into my imprisoned soul
 and touched its pain and torment, its tears and regrets.
  
 This Man from Nazareth was freeing me; breaking my chains.
 Soft light penetrated a black void, 
 where in ‘scarlet sins’ were hidden… and so to cleanse and heal.
  
 I was made new, and loved Him, with a love so sure –
 because He is Jesus, because He truly loves me. 
  
 Juliehughespoetry(c)poetry2020