1 The Tree-Bearer
I saw a man stumble
Under the weight of a tree he bore.
Red-dawned monsters berated him like a dog
And made his frail body red, too.
I wept for him.
The man slipped and fell
As if the ground would not hold steady for him.
His tree he had struggled with so
Became not his burden, but he its.
The red beasts opened holes in his body
Like the carpenter he had been.
His desperate cries of agony would have melted the coldest man's heart
Like the fiery sun to iced wine.
I wept for him.
People spat venom at him
Like maniacal snakes who knew null but hate,
While his loved ones cried a world of tears-
Enough to float the Ark again.
Yet even as he suffered the deaths of many,
His heart lit the universe as he said, "Forgive them."
The man who bore the tree looked at me, and I felt no fear.
That man died that day, hanging innocently on all of our trees.
To lose such a man, even for only three days….
I wept for the world.
I saw a man stumble
Under the weight of a tree he bore.
Red-dawned monsters berated him like a dog
And made his frail body red, too.
I wept for him.
The man slipped and fell
As if the ground would not hold steady for him.
His tree he had struggled with so
Became not his burden, but he its.
The red beasts opened holes in his body
Like the carpenter he had been.
His desperate cries of agony would have melted the coldest man's heart
Like the fiery sun to iced wine.
I wept for him.
People spat venom at him
Like maniacal snakes who knew null but hate,
While his loved ones cried a world of tears-
Enough to float the Ark again.
Yet even as he suffered the deaths of many,
His heart lit the universe as he said, "Forgive them."
The man who bore the tree looked at me, and I felt no fear.
That man died that day, hanging innocently on all of our trees.
To lose such a man, even for only three days….
I wept for the world.