The time between
where did He go
not paradise

as He’d promised
the penitent
thief His brother

not yet During
the interval
between the veil

in the temple
torn and the stone
rolled away He

was harrowing
the gates of Sheol
the underground

terminus where
the ancients slept
hopelessly He

slit the earth and
reaped them into
eternity

You are nowhere
and between now
my brother cold

and unburied
upon the slab
before the fire

When I was half-
way between life
and death I woke

after the blade
had harrowed my
belly I tried

to rise and walk
again The nurse
caught my descent

as I catch you
in the praying
lines of this poem

and carry you
until heaven
opens like speech

This article appears in January 2026.

Dan O’Brien is a poet, playwright and nonfiction writer. His most recent poetry collections are Survivor’s Notebook and Flying on Easter.