Saint Martha and the Dragon

Never a housewife weary and embattled
Looked up with more heartfelt dismay to hear
Her lord’s rebuke. Her eyes are startled blear,
And every straining nerve of her is rattled:
She’d fought and butchered cows and bucking goats,
And hammered out the gristle-knotted flesh
(She looked for burns and bruises and the rest),
But words so hard from his mouth catch her throat.
And yet she girds her loins for this one thing,
To sit beside her sister at his feet,
While dishes burn and stewpots, seething, spill.
And later, when the serpent made a spring
At her, she stood her ground, by one thing stilled,
Lassoed it fast, and watched its eyes go sweet.

—Adam Cooper

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Does Just War Doctrine Require Moral Certainty?

Edward Feser

Pope Leo XIV has made it clear that the U.S. war on Iran does not, in his…

The Church of David Bowie

John Duggan

David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and Godby peter ormerodbloomsbury, 256 pages, $28 Thirty-four years…

Finding a Pulse 

Michael Hanby

Trueman’s new book, The Desecration of Man, should further cement his authority. It supplements, focuses, and in…