Tombs

After Luke 8:26-39

I wander among the tombs,

rocks in the desert, stones

and scorpions for my companions;

I mutter and moan, tearing

at my clothes, my skin; the voices

within me shouting, clamoring,

accusing, laughing, ridiculing, 

denigrating, destroying what little

is left until the legions are silenced,

suddenly, forced into pigs, drowned,

leaving a nearly dead husk behind.

And he tells me not to follow but

to go, go to my city, proclaim what

has happened. I walk, then run,

through the fear, leaving them behind,

following instead the command.

Photograph by Loubos Houska via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.