blood & water

1
blood
is thicker
than water,
they say.
that's because
they haven't seen
my wife and me
since we left
our parents' homes
and cleaved
to each other,
closer than a mother
or father
or sister
or brother.
for now
we are thicker
than blood;
we
are
one.  
 
 
2
when the murderer
slew my brother,
his blood flowed thick
upon the pavement.
but hosed water,
powerful
beyond a fault,
washed it away,
leaving
only the bloodstain
—the only bloodstain—
in the heart
of the killer.
 
3
at the Crucifixion,
when they pierced
my Saviour's side
with a spear,
out flowed
blood and water.
but the blood was not
thicker
than the water,
for the blood and water
flowed side by side
from His side,
commingled down
to the earth,
a sacrifice
for you
and me.
 
4
as the piercing
of Adam's side
brought forth Eve,
so the slaying
of my brother
was the slaying
of the sacrificial lamb,
prefiguring
the slaying
of the Lamb of God.
for as Moses
lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness,
even so
was the Son of man
to be lifted up.
 
5
and as Moses
struck the rock
to release
its fountain of
lifesaving water
for broken Israel
in the wilderness,
so from the pierced side
of my Lord
flows a Living Fountain
to quench every thirst.
as the blood
formed a fountain
for the washing away
of sin,
so the water became
the Fountain of Life.
for as blood
is the insignia
of death,
so is water
the assurance
of life,
through the baptism
of the Spirit
 
6
i know where
the Living Waters
flow:
they well up
from aquifers
at the Fountainside
of my Crucified Saviour,
Who washes away
every repentant
bloodstain
that flows in humility
at the Cross
that pierced the ground
at Mt Calvary
so that He,
lifted up
from the earth,
might draw all men
unto Himself.
 
7
His Water is thicker
than any bad blood.
let me leave
the world behind
and cleave
to His mercies,
so that my blood
may nevermore
be spilled
on the pavements
of my life.
come see a Man
Who let me drink
of His Eternal Fountain
that i may never
bleed again,
that i may never
thirst again.
 
© Copyright 2021 March 25
by Clyve A. Bowen♫