by Christal Ann Rice Cooper
i smile at You, my Everything my “little nothing” heart beating goosebumps at the thought of Your Sacred Heart, my First Love, shining rays of light unto my heart absent of all roses only thorns thick, as the onyx of my nights not a time, but a place You have me inhabit this is where You want me to be this is what You want me to feel what You felt hanged on the cross You Crucified i experience The Sweetest Of All my Sweets You give me Your chalice as I drink the less thirsty You become knowing the place i must go, the earth’s darkest holes of the despaired, the diseased, the detested their face i see, Your Face i see their hand i hold, Your hand i hold and yet i do not see, hear, taste, or feel You, abandon me on all sides to the point of drowning in blasphemies: if there be no God – there can be no soul if there be no soul than You also are not true. not a single thought of Heaven enters my mind i want You with all the powers of my soul and yet there between us is terrible separation not even listening to David’s harp for these past ten years gives me comfort yet I do not doubt that it was You who called me. i am willing with all my heart to suffer all that I suffer. even if You were to tell me “I have no more wine. I have no more blood.” i still want to satiate Your Thirst with every single drop of blood that You can find in me. show me Your Sacred Face the Face of Him Whom i love… my God, my God why have You forsaken me? still i smile at Your Hidden Face.
Christal Ann Rice Cooper identifies herself as a Jesus-loving and Gospel-relying person. She is a newspaper writer, feature stories writer, poet, fiction writer, photographer, and painter. She has a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and completed all of her poetry and fiction workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing with a focus on poetry. She maintains a website at www.chrisricecooper.com
She, her husband Wayne, sons Nicholas and Caleb, cats Nation and Alaska reside in the St. Louis area.