cross purposes
growing up they said
nothing but the blood
as though violence was
some kind of necessity
a cosmic payoff in a world
where blame and shame
are primary currency
we’ve lived enough
history to know that
violence isn’t redemptive
we’ve built whole worlds
based on bloodshed
we’ve organized Jesus’
execution into stations
ordered his last words
to read like a script and
still the death penalty
has never made sense
I know resurrection
requires death to work
but it does not require
violence or a scapegoat
imagine if Jesus had
lived a long life and died
surrounded by loved ones
and still rolled away the
stone a few days later
wouldn’t it still be Easter?
Peace,
Milton
