Heart pierced with a sword

Beneath the Cross 
Where a thirty-three year old
Is nailed and is dying,
His mother stands…..
Her body and soul
Grasping the meaning of pain.

‘Your heart will be pierced
with a sword’, it was said.
She hears her son’s words
“My kingdom is not of this world”,
He had not come to be
The king of a pleasure-seeking world.

The sword that pierced her soul
Tells of a reality beyond pleasure.
A King born in an animal shed
And now killed like a criminal.
No worldly idea of power
Wealth or pleasure.

Indeed a contradiction. 
As the old Prophet said…..
Only a heart pierced with a sword
Could understand and grasp
The inseparable bond
Between pain and love.

Basil Fernando