If not for one refused homage…

I have not the strength left to say another word, so the crowd shouts plenty against me.

How crushing is this weight?

BEARING THE CROSS

count the number of steps

before

The dirt of the street mixes with the blood of skinned knees.

FIRST FALL

oh the strength

to stand

Ema, I cry at the sword piercing your breast!

MEETING MOTHER

what must always pass

in silence

The relief of a stranger’s shoulder, if only it would last

SIMON CARRIES

the cobblestone bearing

wood-pressed feet

Oh, your compassion, woman!

VERONICA WIPES

never forgotten

his face

Breath flees cobblestone-crushed lungs.

SECOND FALL

still, the rising

somehow

Empty wails and vain tears?

WEEPING WOMEN

no consolation

this day

Common Latin shouts, and cracked whips, but somehow I lift up…

THIRD FALL

ever in the dirt

like our end

Bare skin, before the searing sun, as dice roll.

STRIPPED

the utter shame of

exposure

Eloi! Eloi! I start counting my bones!

NAILED

made one

with the wood

Finished!

DEATH

“the rest is

silence…”

Let others bear me down

REMOVAL

the first gentle touch

of the day

Entombed; not left for the dogs and crows like the others

LAID TO REST

so quiet and cool

in the dark

The ressurection will not be televised…