The Wall and The Gate

The Wall and The Gate

sitting between the wall and the gate he eyed the guards
raising his eyes to God he prayed
maybe today my Lord maybe today

as the crowds began to enter the city
they would stop and bow to the guards
and it was then he would plead

please master take my box, I am begging you
and the throngs would ignore him
for they knew who he was

please master lift from me my burden
of hell on earth, my curse, my destiny
and stroll by they would, daring only to glance his way

at the end of another day
he would cry in his pity
he would lament in his misery and toil

maybe tomorrow someone will take my curse
and lift my immortal burden
he didn't realize he had no voice

the humpbacked stranger ask him kindly
what is in your box that no mortal man would relieve you of it
what is it you so desperately want to be rid of

he without the voice cried in an anguished reply
master, civilization has been my folly, my foil
they have taken my arms and my legs

I cannot walk, or grasp, or even move
the civilized have beheaded me and spit on me
and in this box I carry my skull and my hands and feet

I am a heathen, I have broken the law, and I suffer
but here I sit day after day, begging for peace and
waiting for the end of the world.

r.p.leith
4/28/2012