Other Prayers

March 2, 1997  (I was 52)

        

         Other Prayers

Swing low sweet chariot

for Judas Iscariot

swinging near the potter’s field

The kiss bestowed in the garden

was accepted with implicit pardon

from a master whose lips and fate were sealed

Is it I is it I at fault

they asked and passed the salt

while he knelt and washed their feet

It was those thirty silver pieces

that built the church of Jesus

and both men bought the death of deceit

Then upon a crumbling rock

stood and crowed the cock

for the other shepherd who feared the rood

Thus the hanging tree and cross of wood

have for twenty centuries stood

to define evil as well as good

So swing low for Judas Iscariot

let him ride the golden chariot

while we take retribution and bury it.