the posting

Harvey S. Mozolak

said where it could be read
with several tongues
In Nameless Regal Innocence
at the crossroads
beyond the urban wall
outside the secure and gated
by soldier sentinels
like some sworded seraphim
strangely forbidding good’s reentry into earth

there an attempt is made
to fasten God down
after lashings with iron hammered
pins in hot-driven hate
how far will this love go?
here lepers cannot touch him
the cries of mourners
lost amid coarse laughter and curses
those who limp or stumble blind
will not find it easy
to climb close to this place
the smiling children will not be brought
for blessing nor harlots rise to face
his storied forgiveness
the poor will find his wealth
hemorrhages away easily
the gravity is all to the grave
thus a posted warning
a written condemnation
of holiness much too close to flesh
yet if it is not only the hands of Romans
who lift him to the prongs of punishment
but God who elevates
the stationing sentence of the Word
said in dark congealing red
how far can his wounding go?
revealing this a posting on a stripped tree
the only shade there is