Copyright (c) 2001 First Things 112 (April 2001): 13.
Ingathering my frail smocked son he says: don’t squeeze.
Absolution by poison has made him into papier maché;
They kill him then redress the balance,
Befuddle his blood to save the valved heart.
If the worst of life connives such weakness
How can I plot to sidestep
The slow grinding dust to dust
And graft my tissue to his
To make him new weighty again
Full of substance, begotten not made?
—Nicholas Wolf