9: The Second Wind

Mary Magdalene by Jan Van Scorel. Public Domain.

A second wind caught me.
Effortlessly, I reached upward;
I was lifted higher, higher.
It was first wind; then the second.

Magdalene. The apostle appeared,
Mary Magdalene. She received me
at the first wind, and cast me
into the second, to heights unimagined.

As I rose, I was robed in splendor.
A crown, a scepter, a silent whisper,
“You are a King of France,
a royal son of New Bethany.”

The Lord’s friendship, God’s place of rest.
Mary’s fragrance, Magdalene’s home.
From New Bethany, my eyes spanned 
the world below the second wind.

~ Walter Emerson Adams