A Holy Week Poem (Still Under Construction)

SS.[1]

There’s something sobering about demanding
Barabbas’s release each Passion Sunday
(rehearsed again Good Friday) because, truth told,
I’m not a strong man and, had I been there that
day, I’d surely have cast my lot with the mob.

There’s something freeing in shouting “Crucify
him!” each Holy Week because, face facts, I’m
Simon: talking tough at supper, running scared
by midnight, praying that forty-plus days hence
Paraclete’s refreshing flames petrify me.

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[1] The designation in the Roman Catholic missalette for the lines to be recited by "Groups of Speakers," i.e., the congregation, during Holy Week readings of the Passion.


A blessed Good Friday, all!