XVIII
WINE

The solid crossbeam of pain
with the stone of remorse
working by means of guilt,
has unloaded its sorrows on your
heart; and rising up like virgins
over the divine winepress of your breast,
the poor sinful hands of Eve extracted
the liquid that washes our sorrows.

Wine is a poor thing in the desert where
there is no water, the source of greenness;
wine is sad like blood, and sorrowful unto           Matthew 26:38.
death is your soul, Jesus. But since we
have not yet entered the infinite depths
of the divine ocean, your juice has
permeated the winding rivers that have
carried us on this painful journey
through the desert of human life;
it is your wine, Lord, your own blood,
your sorrowful wine of pain, the wine
from the vine of which we are the branches.           John 15:5.

The wine is sad, yes, but it intoxicates
and it makes us dream and forget.
Oh the intoxication of the redeeming blood,
the wine of the desert without water;
madness of the cross, savory pain,
detachment from life, you remove
the taste of vinegar from the sponge
of the world’s empty consolation!

And in the wine of your blood, oh Christ!,
there is also pure water without stain,
the liquor of life that quenches the thirst
of the one who drinks it for all eternity;
and it will become in him a spring of water           John 4:14.
constantly welling up to eternal life.