The last prophecy

After Luke 23:26-31 

The women weep

to see him dragged

through dusty streets,

bearing the cross

upon his back 

until he can bear

no more; Simon

of Cyrene is

made to bear it,

as the one is

dragged to the hill.

The women weep;

he says to them

don’t weep for me,

weep for yourselves

for you children,

the days will come

when women weep,

when women wish

they never gave birth,

or nursed children,

asking mountains

to fall on them

and asking hills

to cover them.

Weep for that time;

don’t weep for me.

 

Photograph by Birmingham Museums Trust via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The second time

After Luke 19:41-46

For the second time

he weeps, once

for a friend, newly dead,

once for the city

of unbelief, the city

of rejection, the city

which did not listen,

would not listen and so

its stones would be

thrown down, its children

thrown down with the stones.

For the second time,

acts of alpha and omega,

he clears away, sweeping

the tables of the sellers

of lambs and doves,

scattering the animals,

scattering the coins,

scattering the sellers,

the lambs escaping

their pens,

the doves escaping

their cages.

He weeps, he scatters,

he scatters, he weeps,

another time.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.