The violence of forgiveness

This thing so evil
required a violence,
a torturing of body
of spirit
of soul
a rending wail
tearing the fabric of time
no hand could tear,
no curtain or veil could hide.
A fine spring day until
the paroxysm
the convulsion
of the ninth hour
the upending of before
into the transforming of after,
the vinegary blackness
ripping the sky,
unleashed fury
de-plating tectonics,
slicing rocks open,
smashing open tombs
to shake the dead alive.
A child is born this day.
A man is killed this day.
A child is sacrificed this day
in the violence
and supremacy
of forgiveness.

This poem is submitted for The High Calling’s Random Act of Poetry, with the prompt word of forgiveness. To see other poems on forgiveness, please visit the site.

It’s also submitted for One Shot Wednesday, hosted by One Stop Poetry. To see other poems submitted, please visit the site. The links will be live at 4 p.m. Central time.

Photograph: Storm Clouds 1 by Mikaela Dunn via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.