would you please rise for the reading
of the Gospel?" is what the lector
forgets to say before she begins

reading the verses from Mark this
second Sunday after Easter. A few of us
who are paying attention to tradition

or to the asterisk in the bulletin begin
to wobble to our feet. Maybe one
goody-two-shoes stands up strong to

make a statement, but most of us wait,
chagrined by the sliding eyes and wavering
postures around us and in us, by our

failure to remember, until we rise
together in honor of the resurrection.