Once I saw a beauty
across the room
at a Valentine’s Day party
almost too much
for my eyes to process.
We moved close.
My eyes closed.  

Gory glory,
the wounds
in Christ’s wrists
& side barely bearable
to Thomas’s eyes,
seeing, believing,  

I blinked
& thirty years later
our bodies breaking
like emptied bottles
or tombs  

we had four kids
scars and wounds
we never could have
imagined, peace
& joy beyond belief.