Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Signs of the End of the Age


They lay their snares, their questions masked
in seeming innocence, an intellectual curiosity
overflowing with a venomous taste for death.

By whose authority do you teach?
Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?
Which brother is the husband in heaven?

It was a dance of course, the masque of death,
blood-red with the impulse, the compulsion
to murder and destroy, for the sake of the nation.

As they dance the dance, as they sway and
pirouette, as they devour with their smiles,
the widow in poverty gives her two pennies.

This poem is submitted for Open Link Night at dVersePoets. The links for all poems submitted will be live at 2 p.m. Central time today at the dVerse Poets site.

This poem is also a meditation for Easter week. It was the Tuesday of that week that Jesus spoke in the temple for the last time as a free man.

9 comments:

David Rupert said...

The traps they continually laid for Him are amazing. And he found a way out of every one of them with clever wisdom and gracious truth.

SimplyDarlene said...

"devour with their smiles" -- this brings their false face facades into the light; usually I just focus on their false hearts.

These last two poems & images have been stellar.

Blessings.

Maureen said...

Well-written, Glynn; I especially like how you conclude the poem.

S. Etole said...

That last verse ... just silenced by it.

Brian Miller said...

def that last line is the cincher...and the contrast...bring home easter man

Arron Shilling said...

hey glynn;

the final stanza has power and
a strong reasonance; a memorable
ending for sure :)

Laurie Kolp said...

Thank you for this, Glynn!

diana said...

thank you for this glorious contribution to my own Lenten devotional reading. Lovely and fierce.

Unknown said...

This is a powerful indictment of those who might lure us away from true humanity and into deception. You have captured the brutality of those who would abuse the power of love for evil in all of its reality. Excellent poem.