by Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2022
First published as the Featured Poem in Clean Fiction (Spring Edition 2023)
The Gospel of Mark 15:37 and 39
“And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last…And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
The mystery remains,
when Jesus breathed His last,
a centurion looked on,
supposed to be steadfast —
commanding eighty men,
who crucified Our Lord,
a leader of Romans,
who rose killing by sword:
A man who heard the cry
of one in His last breath
before His spirit left
upon His earthly death.
Was it Jesus’ dignity
when mocked and led away,
or the sinner by His side,
though ridiculed, He saved?
Was it words of forgiveness,
that He spoke from the cross,
or His cry to His Father,
suffering only Son, in loss?
Was it darkness of the hour
or the earthquake ‘cross the land
or wails of followers
healed by His very hand?
We may never know
the reason for his vow
that Jesus was the Lord
to whom every knee shall bow…