I keep the laws

After Acts 6:8 – 7:60

I keep the laws

I wash, when I should,

I fast, when I should,

read and listen when I should

he serves the widows at table

I live near, the sacredness

of this place spills over my home

I tithe what I should

He serves the people with love

And you, Stephen, hand me

Scripture and history and

innocence and spirit and

wisdom and the face

of an angel

he serves his Lord in what

he says

I give you stones, cast

I give you stones, thrown

I give you stones, hurled

he serves his Lord in what

he does

stones, Stephen,

stones

he is served stones

Painting of the stoning of St. Stephen by Rembrandt van Rijn, oil on canvas, 1625; Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.

Did it save you, Stephen

After Acts 6:8-7:60

Did the face of the angel

save you, Stephen, did

the five words save you,

did the grace and spirit

save you, Stephen

did the logic save you,

did the recitation of history,

accurate, save you, did

any of this save you, Stephen

the charges flew around our heads

the sentence flew around our heads

the stones flew around your head

none of it save you, Stephen,

or did it

Photograph by Maliz Ong via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

He writes in the dust

So what does he write

in the dust, what words

as he listens to the question,

the trap

what does he write

in this story, itself written

in the dust

she was caught, they say

in the act, they say,

of adultery, they say

she should die, they say

stoning, they say

He writes in the dust

The executioner, he says

must be sinless, he says

the one who stones, he says

must be blameless, he says

only the sinless, he says

can execute judgment, he says

He writes in the dust

The first stone drops, thud

then the second drops, thud

the third, thud

thud thud thud thud

He writes in the dust

The stones drop, again

as he writes, again

in the dust

thud thud thud thus

Go, he says

sin no more, he says

only the sinless, the blameless

can execute, he says

only the sinless, the blameless

can forgive