From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
medical (alchemical) translation (decimation): umbilical granuloma
bored through, though not with awl, with auger;
thereby made a wheel that turns;
and turning, I find me converting,
moved by spirit that, amber, burns
and because I’m giv’n to turn,
I bleed from stigma so imposed;
the blood that flows thence unclean makes me,
escapes me still, though scar has closed
but so the blood is poured at altar’s
foot in worthy sacrifice,
whereat I kneel, my tongue confessing,
pleading, too, that grace suffice
and therein is my very center
made a heap of earth and stones:
my stigma marks me clay anointed,
flesh and blood and flesh and bones
hence: knotted scar, blight primordial
tying covenantal me
to God; in veiled embrace at last
my constant nourishment might be
spared at altar, bowed and kneeling,
encompassed by a three-fold shout
(of holy, thrice), I, servant, suffer,
working my salvation out
so let it ever bleed, reminding
me (and God) of tokened signs
by which I might more truly ask Him
seven heavens, precepts, lines
