This poem appears in the Spring 2020 issue of Modern Age. To subscribe, click here.     

           The Sentence

Condemned to die, the Lord is bound
To duty. Advocates not found,
Authorities ascribe to Him
Offenses motivating them
Each unjust moment, then compound
Their wrongs. Blood-thirsty voices sound
The doom which soon shall be renowned
In and beyond Jerusalem:
Condemned to die.
Christ’s words or silences astound
Or anger powers never crowned
With thorns. Mistreated whim by whim,
He knows there is one way to trim
The losses of those all around
Condemned to die.