That the priest passed by the half dead guy is a slap to the back of my holy head. Some preachers say that he was on his way to sacrifice in the temple and so, couldn’t defile himself touching the unclean. Those preachers are more concerned with saving face than facing the truth. They make the priest into a dolt who puts purity before compassion, which sounds foolish until you think about: the holocaust or apartheid or any genocide or the leaden response to AIDs in the eighties or the Somali refugees drowning off Italy or the immigrants rounded up in East LA. anyone denied their basic human dignity. Who is unworthy of my attention? Who have I chosen to abandon? Who are the unclean and compassionate walking under heaven’s archway while my purity is burned away.
Thank You for being part of this poetry community. I always enjoy hearing from you in the comment section.
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