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Poetry
Time-Warp
Bruce Dawe
had Jesus taken up the suggestion that He get down from the cross
'Jesus? Once the wounds had healed he went straight back to being a chippie.
Matthew's taxing the hell out of us again for those damned Romans,
(with a bit on the side for himself, of course ...).
And as for Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they're all out there
on the lake somewhere, (even though their catches are pretty small
these days). And good old Luke, why, he's back doctoring again,
though there's often a faraway look in his eyes
when he's making up a free poultice (he was always
specially concerned for the poor, you know ...).
Simon the Zealot, not surprisingly, copped it
when the Romans nabbed him with that nasty little knife
he was aiming to use on them in an alley
some dark night ... Judas, on the other hand, I'm told
is doing well in his accountancy business in Samaria;
No, I never see Mark nowadays ... Once Peter tossed it in,
Mark didn't have any other occupation, but seeing as how he had
a well-to-do Mum and Dad (or so Paul reckons) I'm pretty sure
he's getting by OK. And, as for that other John,
the one they called 'the beloved disciple', they tell me
he never really did got over it, but then, I guess,
none of them did, one way or another. ...
I've seen a lot of fellows hanging up there
on that God-forsaken hill, but that Jesus,
he was the only one who seemed to have a special reason
for being there (one too big, I suppose, to be spoken about these days ...).
Barabbas, of course, got lumbered shortly afterwards
(once a thief, always a thief, I say).
As a matter of fact,
he got his final come-uppance just last Friday.'
-Bruce Dawe-
Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 21 No 2 (March 2008), p. 15 |
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