Monday, July 25, 2016

If Only / Good Friday Poem/2

If Only...

Mary knows
the pain of a mother
who has lost her child
too soon. 

La Pieta
Holding her dead son
In her arms.
Killed -
Not by natural causes,
but at the hands
of men,
the hands
of an oppressive government,
and even at the hands
of fearful, corrupt religious leaders. 

Mary was there through it all. 
As the crowds chanted
to crucify
her baby boy. 
As they called him
a thug,
a criminal. 
As they said
he deserved what he was getting
for daring to challenge the system,
for daring to preach equality
for daring to assert his own humanity
and divinity. 

Perhaps they blamed her too? 

If only
she had raised him better. 
If only
she had taught him
how to obey authority.
If only
She had taught him
how to respond properly
to a question when asked. 
If only
she had taught him
to stay in line,
to obey the rules
to fulfill the role
he was born into
in his culture and society. 

Maybe then
He would still be alive.
Maybe then
he wouldn’t have been crucified.

Or maybe
they would have found a reason
anyway.  

© Jennifer Reyes Lay

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