Stan’s Corner, February 23, 2012

Last night was Ash Wednesday and Catherine Neptin-Rieder  received ashes in our church.  Here is a different spin on that occasion:

“You thumbed grit 
into my furrowed brow,

marking me
 with the sign of mortality,
 the dust of last year’s palms.

The cross you traced 
seared, smudged skin, 
and I recalled other ashes
 etched 
into my heart
 by those who love too little
 or not at all.

”– Elizabeth-Anne Vanek