But you can

Do not cling to me, Mary.
For I cannot be held, nor kept contained.
I am not solely yours, though yours I am.

But you can.
You who, centuries later,
lie alone in fear, and long to be restored.
Do not cling to me, Mary.
For you must go from here and tell,
and give your witness to a waking world.

But you can.
You, in every age, who walk in faith
and carry high
the living flame of truth and light.
Do not cling to me, Mary.
For in restraining me you
would constrain the world,
and limit it,
and be limited yourself.

But you can.
You who now need strength
to face the day
and power to rise, to love,
to hope and give the gift of grace
Do not cling to me, Mary.
The Galilee days can’t be what once they were;
the trodden paths, the laughter, meals together shared
will not be by Capernaum’s sea,
in shadowed groves of olive trees,
but at all times, beyond the frame of place,
for you and all who choose my way.
Do not cling to me, Mary.

But you can.
For I am He who lives, the Firstborn;
I breathe my life into your raggedness,
speak peace into your fears.
And as I stood among you yesterday
I stand with you today
and I will do the same forever.
Yes, you can cling to me.

(Francesca Proud, for Brian)
Bible references: John 20:17