The twelfth day of poems from BE.aGaIN completes the Jesus Trilogy of works in the first collection. “The Folks on the Hill” first appeared in Sein und Werden in Autumn 2020, a brilliantly imaginative thematic collection of contributors and their works, published quarterly and I am so grateful to them for publishing my work.
Good Friday -as it is known- is the earthlyJesus dying on the cross.I am fascinated by this scenario-many speculate that his soul had already left his body when betrayed, others proposition that this was always his fated ending, and even astronomers have noted that there was a solar eclipse on this date in the area of crucifixion in 33AD…the Sun of Man and the Son of Man both removing themselves from our view only to come back again.
This poem is a simple one-6 lines with a basic rhyming scheme.It’s title is dualistic-I borrowed it from a line in Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” (but with clearly a different meaning intended). The scene is set in the first two lines and it’s full of doubt and pain-“‘With punctured palms”.
Jesus is on the cross-not the savour-but a man-betrayed, brutalised, dying, and questioning God-“Why have you forsaken me?”- referencing Psalm 22 from the Old Testament (and depending on your belief, he was either self-referencing or echoing David’s poetic pleas to show how human he really was).
Whatever you believe-a man died that fateful day in the belief that this was to Save the World. The fact that it is still marked today and that it was the “Start of….” says it all. His earthly body nailed to a wooden cross becoming the revered iconography that people wear around their necks, clutch in prayer, kneel before.
P.S. BE.aGaIN is FREE today on Amazon in Kindle Format-Check it out!,
Algo
Algo Poetry-Behind the Lines 