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This Holy Week I am reading again a book of poetry by Robert Klein Engler (of Chicago and New Orleans) entitled 'Stations of the Heart: A Book of Sonnets'. The third part of the book is an extraordinary series of sonnets entitled "Via Crucis" which I read and revisit often in prayer and contemplation.I cannot think of another recent North American poet who has done such a masterful job with putting the Stations of the Cross into poetry. The following is an excerpt from the sonnet on the Sixth Station entitled "VI. St. Veronica Wipes Our Lord's Face with Her Veil":
If Simon could remove the weight awhile,
Then certainly her veil could help erase
The rouge and rue that issued from his trial -
So with her cloth she boldly blots his face...
Then looks surprised ... expecting stains, instead,
She finds her proof, within a mirror of thread.
Robert Klein Engler
"Via Crucis"
Stations of the Heart:
A Book of Sonnets
Alphabeta Press, Chicago
1994
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