I have come to light a fire on the earth
                                                       Luke 12:49

you are dust and to dust you shall return...
                                            so why ashes
                                            those sooty remains of palm branch holocausts
                                            rather than dirt from a fertile field
                                            or an empty back lot overrun with plants and weeds
                                            to remind us that evil grows among the good
                                            yet ashes proclaim this day of dust
a beginning 
and    a consummation
                                                        marking us with His dark, sacred solidarity