by Maura H. Harrison

“Stretch out thy hand,” said Jesus—opening
Ark of His Sacred Heart, his treasured breadth.
He placed my hand into His wound and left
It there. His torrent—mercy motioning
The way—woke up my pulse and pulled me in.
Inclined, in warming blood, rich confidence 
Was gifted, gleaned, and given prominence.
Immersed in water, wading, there I’d been

In love. But what, when I withdrew my hand,
Was I to be? A solitary soul?
Impoverished scar and dry forgotten blood? 
No, known—each finger graced with golden band, 
The signet finger three, in Him made whole
And wedded to the wading wounded flood.

Maura H. Harrison is a poet and photographer living in central Virginia. She is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas, Houston.