An Early Morning Note to the Christ

Was it like this for you
I wonder, your mind so clear in the bloodthick hour
before the coming of light
that you didn't need to pray but knew within your heart
why it was He brought you here
having kissed you at birth and given his promise
with no sound but the faltering confusion
of his breath: that the things of which you could never speak
are the bits and pieces of his splintered bones
scattered on the floors of the Fertile Crescent: that it was He himself
fucked your mother and made her to kneel before him: that your dreams
of her were his dreams, for are we not all children,
even a child such as He,
who dast not reveal his face,
yet will lie and lie
that all is well, that nothing will harm you,
that the door is open, go, go,
for He is with you always, your savior,
as you are mine.

James Lineberger is a professional playwright and screenwriter. His poetry has appeared in New York Quarterly, Verse, Hayden's Ferry Review, Hanging Loose, Ontario Review, Exquisite Corpse, Snake Nation Review, Sonora Review, Praire Schooner, and a number of online publications. He was twice awarded First Place, IBPC, and has been a Pushcart Prize nominee. His book, JUDGMENT CALL: COMPLETE POEMS, 1994-2004, is available online at http://www.lulu.com/content/59074