Ash Wednesday

Bodies in the cathedral,
ashes in the ovens:
stations of the holocaust
link death with death

and responses vary:
can you compare one crucifixion
with a million nameless executions,
or does one contain the other?

Do Christians eat up the Jews,
or embrace them?
St Hildegard said
God hugs us

The mystery is this:
it seems we find it hard to hug
without crushing
the breath out of someone’s lungs

This is the first in a series of poem I am writing during Lent. It is a response to a mesmerising exhibition called “Stations of the Holocaust” in Norwich Cathedral. Worth a visit if you live in the area. It ends on Good Friday.