Poetry Contest for National Poetry Month 2010 Poetry Contest Judges | Best poetry ever! booklist Birds (mp3) Imagine, I am a Sister, a bride of Christ, the Word. My face bare as moon. I am a plain yet devoted wife. Flowers on the altar for Jesus, fair linens, shadows of wax. I sing to my lover for he has suffered like a dove on the cross: his wings pinned, his soft belly impaled. His feet nailed, arched like claws. My husband come to me on canes. He lies beside me in our cell. He takes the veil from my head. My hair is dark beneath the wimple with the shine of feathers. Perhaps I am beautiful as I pray. My heart breaks in its shell. I rub his feet and palms with unction. He heals a little as I touch. His sticks on the old wooden floor: crucifix or crutches? Published in Windsor Review: Special Prophecy Issue, Vol. 43, No. 1, Spring 2010. April Bulmer See all poems | Listen to all poems