Double Cross

 

 

Two eyes

two ears

two hands

two feet.

 

Two sexes

two minds

two masters

we are cut in two.

 

Double agents

double dealing

doubled over

double talk.

 

Dark descends. Between split pieces moves

a blazing torch, a smoking brazier.

 

Two crosses stand

on either hand

one bitter enmity

one timid solidarity.

 

Duplicity

divided loyalty

split identity

broken heart.

 

Too broken

To be mended

by any One

but You.

The central two lines of this poem refer to a mysterious and solemn incident in Genesis 15:9-12,  17, where Abraham sacrifices three animals and cuts them in half, leaving a passageway between the pieces. I wonder whether this Bible passage was the inspiration for Damien Hirst's bisected cow installation where viewers pass between the severed halves. As the sun sets and darkness falls, a great awe and dread falls upon Abraham, and God Himself passes between the carcasses in the form of a smoking brazier and a blazing torch - reminders of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the desert when they fled from slavery in Egypt. In the same way, for Christians, the path of life leads us straight through the sacrificial body of Christ to the covenant of redemption.