Encountering the Apparition

The fair at Patriot’s Park in North Tarrytown bustles with people. Kids scream on the Flying Saucers and the Tilt-o-Whirl. Not so much on the carousel.

Then there is the haunted house.

I walk up its dark entryway. Turn left. See a flashing strobe-light. And a familiar figure:

Jesus Christ.

He sits bare-chested, his cross over his shoulder. His eyes meet mine. His face is a portrait of resigned agony. Blood runs down the side of that face from his crown of thorns.

I run from his apparition, his suffering.

A lifetime later, I haven’t stopped.

echoing footsteps
shriveled leaves under
blooming maples

first published in Haibun Today, Volume 10, Number 1, March 2016