Author’s notes about the poems:

These poems were written after Easter 2023, as an imagining of the experiences of those who loved Jesus in the aftermath of his death. In their grief, they dared to blink back their tears and see a new hope dawning, a new life unfolding before them – and they began to understand it as resurrection. It is, perhaps, the ever- repeating pattern of loss – the world tilts on its axis, but then slowly, and almost despite itself, the morning comes. But this journey for Jesus’ friends had far-reaching consequences. Out of their amazement and joy came a message that would transform the world.

All these centuries later, our experiences, too, may take us to the depths, to the farthest reaches of sorrow. The journey from death to life, from grief to hope, is a journey repeated in almost every human life. But we can find echoes of that first Easter journey in our own story of struggle, and these poems reflect that too. What starts out as a lonely path eventually joins with others, and new connections are made, new realities understood, new blessings received and shared. Sorrow may never leave entirely, but it can change from deepening shadows to a light that casts the rest of life into relief. Priorities change, strengths are revealed, the chaff is cast away. We may come to experience moments of eternity – when all that is, is now, and now is enough.

Wherever we find ourselves, we are inheritors of the message of hope that burst forth that morning in the garden. Let us journey too, let us walk the Way of Light.