Epitaphios...

... on Syros

Soon they will assemble in Saint Nicholas's church
on Syros, marking the passing of another year
on earth in all its grief; bearers will take up the bier,
the fragrant Epitaphios, adorned with spring's first
offerings by women's hands in Holy Week.

Soon the candle-lit procession, winding
through the maze of streets, will pass beneath stone
balconies, where rose-water besprinkles wreaths,
the voices rising in a sigh towards the darkened firmament,
blending music of the spheres and benison of priests.

And those who throng the square will breathe
the frankincense of their belief; the prism of their prayer
bringing forgiveness to Gethsemane; earth's sepulchre
become a meadow, blossoming about their feet.




Note: The Epitaphios is a procession with the symbolic body of Christ on a flower-decked bier, which takes place in the Greek Orthodox Church on the night of Holy Friday (Good Friday in English), two days before Easter Sunday. The bier is also known as the Epitaphios in Greek.