Death by Five
A rushed reflection on the rushing winds of four directions and the axis on which they turn.
Death by five wounds
Five Wounds, Holy and Precious
Hark! The four winds of the quartered directions
whistling through the wounds of your limbs
a death song, a death song, a death song
that echoes in
the north
the west the east
the south
a lament from the mouth
of Raphael whose words are healing but not at this dark hour.
Gabriel weeps saltwater tears that announce despair.
Michael who brought down the great dragon, cannot bring the Christ down from the cross.
Uriel, oft forgot, prepares the tomb from a broken and wounded earth,
For the broken and wounded body of the God-man.
Each of the four winds resounding now in the four chambers of your Sacred Heart,
For it has been opened, not just so that grace might pour out
But that the world can pour in.
That the hurt and wretched and sick might find refuge.
The fifth wound, that heart wound, that opening
Had it not been for that wound the other four would have torn you asunder
And the earth along with you.
But that point, that tip of the spear of destiny
There became the fulcrum of all things
The axial point, the centre
And you counteracted a centrifugal spin of worlds
Worlds that were prodigal sons gone astray
Suns out of orbit
Sols and souls out of orbit
Becoming now centripetal
Becoming now the blooming rose of your wound
Petals that are the ecstasy of your Sacred Heart receptacle
Within your Sacred Heart, Lord, Raphael speaks medicine once more
Gabriel with tears of joy announces a new, eternal birth
Michael, no longer concerned with taking the Christ down,
Now, with elation, lifts Him up
And Uriel, oft forgot still, but now re-membering, preparing an athanor for new life
The flower of life emerging from the grave
A death song no more
Not the shrill whistle of doom through those wounds
but a spirit-breath symphony of life
A life song, a life song, a life song
A life that is song
Life by five wounds!
Clumsy, I know, and one shouldn’t handle the greatest of all mysteries with clumsy words, but I was given inspiration from mysterious sources. Enigmas even.
I pray forgiveness.



For it has been opened, not just so that grace might pour out
But that the world can pour in.
<3 <3 <3