After Acts 26
He
makes a defense in the form
of
confession, and what compels
is
not so much what he says
(which
does appear rather insane)
but
how he says it, the passion,
the
conviction, the disregard
for
what we hear, as if what
matters
is the speaking, the act
of
words, the word. And then he
asks
me, tells me, I believe
the
prophets, and I rise and
leave,
asking myself how this man
sees
my heart better than I do. And
we
know, Festus and I, this Roman
and
this king, that he is innocent,
he
could be, should be, freed,
except
for his appeal. I stand
on
the balcony, see the crowds
below
and the ravens above,
perched
and waiting.
Painting: Apostle
Paul on Trial by Nikolai Bodarevsky (1875). Licensed under Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons.
