For the Salvadoran Jesuits, Good Friday 1990 (Poem)

For the Salvadoran Jesuits, Good Friday 1990
Serena Cosgrove, SU Alum ‘85

Download: SerenaCosgrovePoem

baptism
isn’t just the splash
of holy water
rather immersion
into ever deepening waters

your blood flows over me
and i’m baptized anew
baptism of water
baptism of blood
baptism under fire.

200 soldiers on your campus
30 soldiers to your front door
they invite you to walk in the garden
(the hibiscus blooms nod awake)
they line you up
(the hibiscus blooms tremble)
they shoot you down
(the hibiscus blooms cry out: no-o-o. . .)
the housekeeper and her sixteen year old daughter
(the hibiscus blooms stand still in the breeze)
kill them too
(the hibiscus blooms weep
tears lost in the early morning dew)

back in the security meeting
the radio crackles
Fr. Ellacuria has been killed resisting arrest
the room shakes with their applause
soldier minds closed
to the pardon of god.

in the garden
the sun has risen
the dew has dried
the hibiscus blooms have fallen
red on your dead bodies

I gather the fallen blooms
and place them on the altar
your offering   your message
live the promise
in the face of today’s idols

your blood flows over me
i’m baptized anew
the waters deepen
your faith flows through me
live the promise
in the face of today’s idols