Lazarus

first day

i rise from stiffening
into a pin of light
and a voice calling
"Lazarus, this way"
and i walk or rather
swim in a river of sound
toward what seems to be
forever i am almost
almost there when i hear
behind me
"Lazarus, come forth" and
i find myself swiveling
in the light for this
is the miracle Mary Martha,
at my head and at my feet
singing my name
is the same voice

second day

i am not the same man
borne into the crypt.

as ones return from otherwhere
altered by what they have seen,

so have i been forever.

lazarus.
lazarus is dead.

what entered the light was one man
what walked out is another.

third day

on the third day i remember
what i was moving from
what i was moving toward

light again and
i could feel the seeds
turning in the grass mary
martha i could feel the world

now i sit here on a crevice
in this rock stared at
answering questions

sisters stand away
from the door to my grave
the only peace i know

Lucille Clifton, Poet Laureate of the State of Maryland (1975-85), was recently awarded the National Book Award for her Blessing the Boats (2000). For her numerous books of poetry she has received many fellowships and awards, including the Shelley Memorial Prize, a Charity Randall Citation, an Emmy Award from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a selection as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, a Lannan Achievement Award in Poetry, and the 1999 Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Writers' Award. She serves on the board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets and was recently elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts. Her poetry collection, The Terrible Stories (1996), was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Lenore Marshall Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award.

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