42opus
is an online magazine of the literary arts.
2 January 2007 | Vol. 6, No. 4
Stigmata
The life of stigmatics is but a long series of sorrows
which arise from the Divine malady of the stigmata
and end only in death.
–The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
No one else was there to see the light show,
homunculus of the body of Christ,
its six wings like an overcoat flashing
the five wounds, tiny rays
diagrammatically connecting God's
hands, feet, and side to his, until his palms,
feet, side sprouted nail marks, spear gash,
bled and throbbed. Forty days and nights
without food, on the mountain—
because God favors the upper air,
the solitary pilgrim. The other brothers
were left to fall asleep or worship
golden calves, whatever frailty might erupt
without him. If the sufferings
were absent, the