Waiting for Easter

by Lee Ann Pingel

April 2022
for Tamara F.

In the West, where I live,
the sun has set on Easter Sunday. 

On this day, the men who followed Jesus
hid, afraid, behind locked doors.
My doors are locked but I am not hiding
yet. Only the ordinary fears hum
almost imperceptibly, electricity
contained, an everyday drone.

In Kyiv, Tamara’s doors are locked;
her fear anything but ordinary.
While she hides, she writes pysanky,
one hand carefully cupping the eggshell,
the other painting resistance in wax:
the vazon, tree of life, full of birds;
the goddess, arms upraised,
hands releasing the beloved dove,
her skirts full of sun and seeds,
her sleeves holding pussy willows
and fields of spring wheat,
while around them the zmia swirls,
ancient god of earth and river,
trapping wicked spirits in its spirals.

Every stroke binds evil more tightly;
each color constricts the monster’s chains.  

Yellow for moon and harvest,
blue for health and summer skies,
white for light and purity,
green for the hope of spring,
black for the power of unknown depths,
and red—always red—for blood,
blood that is life and gives life,
blood of women, blood of soldiers,
blood of Christ. 

In Jerusalem, while the men hid,
the women ventured onto the streets.
Finding the tomb empty, they rushed
to declare death vanquished.
In Kyiv, Tamara braves the riddled roads,
striking out for the post office
to mail me a pysanka,
an ancient gospel proclaimed
on an egg.

In the East, the Easter sun
is not yet risen.
We are all waiting.

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Lee Ann Pingel was once told she was trying to be dogwalker in a world that requires jockeys, a fact reflected in her degrees in creative writing, political science, and religion. Most of her work revolves around themes of faith, doubt, and navigating a life marked but not defined by its wounds. She lives and writes in Athens, Georgia. Her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Mother Mary Comes to Me from Madville Publishing, as well as in such journals as Mojave River Review, Rat’s Ass Review, Hobo Camp Review, The Fib Review, and others.