Judgment on a House of One

 

And Herod appeared

Before the crowd

In an arena in Judea, to

Proclaim himself

Messiah to the Jews

And to the world

He wore a splendid robe

Of silver

How it must have shone in

The sun

And then

Herod fell

And soon he died

Wasting disease,

At the last

Consumed by worms inside

That, hungered, had their way

Without

As well

How ugly and how awful

That must have been

Against the silver

 

And is this how it is

With those who think they are

In charge

Know how to lead

Must be resplendent at it

In a hided-over ego

And in other, badged ways

Over vainglorious skin?

 

Leaders, supposed, self-styled, or

Otherwise

Even the right ones

Will be judged twice over

Once upon themselves

A second time for those they built up

Or sent away

Or from whom they

Took away small pieces, one piece

By one,

‘Til for the company there was

Little left

But victim service

 

We might not see this, hear it,

Taste the mortal defeat

Touch the dust they have become

There is a reason why

In older times, the judge was

Called

And is

Immortal, invisible

Only wise

 

C L Couch

 

 

(the death of Herod Agrippa is told in the Christian Acts of the Apostles and other ancient sources

it is fictively told in the chapters of I, Claudius by Robert Graves)

 

I should be judged, too, on whom and how I led, when I have led

 

Photo by Vinicius Amano on Unsplash

São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil

this was a color test I was doing with lighting on RGB colors and how the colors affected a piece of creased aluminum. looks like a mountain for me, what do you guys think?