Doubly Marked

Doubly Marked 

And so, we gather.

A community doubly marked. 

The first is a watermark, 

generously bestowed on many of us 

at an age we don't remember. 

 

Time and again we hear the words: 

"Remember your baptism," 

assuring us that memory is more than 

what the mind retains. 

 

The second mark is the ash, 

one year oily; one year dry, 

each year a reminder 

in a solemn moment: 

"You are dust, 

and to dust you shall return." 

 

And so, we gather.

A community doubly marked. 

 

Declared on one occasion: 

"A beloved child of God." 

Declared on the other:

"Mortal, finite, destined to die." 

 

Both are true and one is 

as inescapable as the other. 

 

And so, we gather. 

A community doubly marked.

 

With varying degrees of 

doubt and certainty, 

pain and joy, 

confidence and fear, 

hope and despair, 

we gather. 

 

We gather because   

it is only by embracing our 

sure and certain death 

that we begin to live.

 

And so, we gather.

A community doubly marked.

 

A body, as it were, 

where each member is 

a microcosm of the cosmic truth:

“In life and in death, we belong to God.”

 

D. Mark Davis, 2026