m e m e n t o

by bahaghari

His remembrance stayed with him until his dying day, the remembrance that brought about his conversion, the remembrance from a friend whom he never held, cry with, nor laugh with... but whom he persecuted.

M E M E N T O

I. The 9th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 9th Verse

drip...
drip...
drip...
goes the crimson liquid
viscid as it
d
r
i
p
s
down
down
deep down to the soul
stirring the conscience, awake!

nothing here
and nothing in betwixt
l i n g e r s
his sight bedimmed
his faith wounded
(wounded out of ignorance)
in his prayer he rends
punc-tu-a-ting his invocation with !sobs¡
wond'ring how come...
how come he never recognized his Lord's face in Stephen's
he who has kept the Lord's writ and ways in his heart, in his life
he who calls himself a Pharisee, a learned man, a scholar of the Torah
he thought he knew well, but knew little, sooo little
and it kills him, shuns him to shame

nothing here
and nothing in betwixt
l i n g e r s
except
the sound

—of an innocent's invocation for forgiveness
¡...lay not this sin to their charge!
he prayed naught for his own salvation, but for them
T H E M . . .

—of a familiar cadence from Welkin's resident
calling,
"Saul, Saul, w h y persecutest thou me?"

the images
/recounting in his dreams, in his mind/

—of laying their raiment at his feet,
his nod of approval,
t h e m chanting the warcries of their blinded faith
whilst their shooting stones land upon Stephen
stones that taxed blood from his flesh
oozing from his head, down to his visage
stones that taxed the last of his dying breath
but never, nunca, naught his proclamation
/For not one force in this world can bar
A proclamation sealed with HIS followers' blood
From reaching the hearts of those who witnesseth
The very act of love betwixt the willling servant and the MASTER
And with every ounce of blood watering the earth
The seed springs afresh yielding its fruit—the TRUTH
That HesuKristo is the God—Via. Veritas. Vita./

the body will wither but never its truth
time will pass, e'en our forefathers, but never the truth
and 'twas the same that struck Saul
the same TRUTH he met on his tracks to Damascus

the r e m e m b r a n c e

—of blood soaking his hands, Stephen's blood
dripping...
dripping...
dripping...
viscid as it drips...

—of Stephen's invocation for his forgiveness
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
((( r e s o n a t i n g . . . )))

(blood) dripping
(invocation) resonating
deep down to his soul
bidding his conscience awake

and as the night grows deeper
his shrill cries shatters the quiescent air
his cheeks bathing in warm tears
his hands /soaked in innocent's blood/
gropes in the dark for absolution...

"Lord God... Jesus... forgive me. Forgive me."

-

author'sNOTE

"The 9th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 19th Verse" will be posted soon. oddly, dunno why, stephen and saul reminds me of cain and abel. the siblings are actually the original subjects of this piece but shockwave will be on the fifth of this month, but unfortunately i won't be able to participate. so, this piece serves as my support for the event. i will let cain and abel take the backseat to make way for the shockwave. clueless? go to astarte's rapture's forum: not of this world, and open the topic: "here i am: send me prayers" then scrolldown.

thanks for reading.