Interview with a Messiah

1

Yes, of course I’m very frightened

I fear something will happen this weekend,

I wish I could return home

this is a dangerous place for me

I know I am very unpopular

with the powers that be,

it worries my friends

who are now nowhere to be seen

have they deserted me?

2

Too late I think I’m done for

arrested on some nefarious charge

inciting civil disobedience

and unlawful gathering, seriously,

I’ve already taken quite a beating

they’re trying to make me confess

I’ve been told this has gone viral

not all the guards are bastards.

3

He’s a very weak magistrate,

a right jobsworth judge

who seems to be in two minds,

I think he knows I’m innocent

but he needs to please the press

and the crowd of course

who always like a good show

4

I’m to be sacrificed, 

he’s washed his hands of my case

there’s nothing left but the death penalty

and I’ll be left hanging out to die,

Wait until my father hears about this

he’ll raise thunder you’ll see

5

The pain disappears swiftly

hands and ankles have become numb

The wound in my side is rather sore

I feel like a fading voyeur

watching them, watching me expire

6

Lying here I feel nothing, but sadness

bound into a threadbare shroud

death’s cavernous departure lounge

gives me time to think.

7

So, I must leave you

no emotional farewell

did I achieve anything?

8

Will I be remembered

good, bad or indifferently.

9

Thank you for listening, Hallelujah!

*

© Graham Sherwood Easter 2020