for Jennifer
After Lazarus died and was raised and Christ died and was raised, Martha died. Which is more in keeping with the natural order of things. Sure, her reputation survived her, the myrrh bearer, the middle child that the Middle Ages resurrected, her virginity and her soup ladle still intact.
In fact, in icons she brandishes the latter, a short and sometimes gilded oar. And also tames dragons, pinching their windpipes underfoot, ankle angled as if each beast’s hot throat were nothing worse than an organ’s carpeted treadle. Only Christ could fluster her.
