Last Words before the Firstfruits

A Poem for Good Friday

Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash

Last Words before the Firstfruits

"It is finished." - John 19:30

No one who hung on death’s doorstep would
dare to declare with their last gasping breath 
the victory won, except the One who 

first planted in Eden a tree he 
knew would one day fall from some man’s axe 
and in its death would hold the skin and

bones of God. Only the One who hemmed 
the whole world together with his breath, 
only the One who knew already 

that the felled tree held the seed that would 
lead to the firstfruits of eternal 
life could say with his last breath it is 

finished. Now your new life will begin.