untangling the web
KNOTS, TWISTS AND FAITH IN GOD
Weeping for my friend
A man, barely alive
Cuts and bruises, abrasions, weak, staggering
A common sight
Life and death on the cheap –
Pulling a tree trunk of wood,
Rough, heavy, full of splinters
Unbearably heavy
Along the road,
Jeered at by bystanders
Accompanying soldiers whipping him on –
More than their’ jobs worth’ to show any compassion –
People gawping
His family following, weeping
“Another one we’re well rid of.”
“Die, die, die, traitor!”
I weep because he was my friend.
Mothers shield their children
As this almost bare and bloodied man
Drags his feet past.
The moment passes. He has moved on.
But I weep because he was my friend.
The road leads to the place of execution
and the cemetery.
It’s death, certain death.
Hours of unimaginable agony.
But eventually he’s finally laid to rest.
And I weep because he was my friend.
And now he’s gone for ever.
It was a friend’s tomb they laid him in.
I visit to hang on to the memories,
And pay my last respects amidst my tears.
There is a strange atmosphere here
Like heaven touching earth.
The tomb is no longer sealed,
The rock that said farewell to my hopes
Has moved – perhaps violently – to one side
And the entrance is gaping, open.
And I weep, not from sadness
But from joy
Because my friend is resurrected
By the power of God
And lives among the splinters
Of our daily relays of wounds and suffering,
And light and laughter,
Pain and happiness.
