To know if any Human eyes were near — Emily Dickinson

Photographs — Estado de México — Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

For me Easter is always preceded with the quiet and somber Good Friday. Since my youth when my grandmother and my mother would call me from play in the street sometime around 2 or 3 in the afternoon I was told to kneel and my grandmother recited those seven last words. I also remember that I was prohibited from turning on the radio. In these times in this 21st century I feel that a day of quiet somber should be experienced.

A Poem for Good Friday - Emily Dickinson

To know just how He suffered — would be dear —

To know if any Human eyes were near

To whom He could entrust His wavering gaze —

Until it settle broad — on Paradise —

To know if He was patient — part content —

Was Dying as He thought — or different —

Was it a pleasant Day to die —

And did the Sunshine face his way —

What was His furthest mind — Of Home — or God —

Or what the Distant say —

At news that He ceased Human Nature

Such a Day —

And Wishes — Had He Any —

Just His Sigh — Accented —

Had been legible — to Me —

And was He Confident until

Ill fluttered out — in Everlasting Well —

And if He spoke — What name was Best —

What last

What One broke off with

At the Drowsiest —

Was He afraid — or tranquil —

Might He know

How Conscious Consciousness — could grow —

Till Love that was — and Love too best to be —

Link to: To know if any Human eyes were near — Emily Dickinson

Originally published at blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com.