The Second Coming, Reprise
(a sonnet) June 30, 01
Shall I speak true of the wild beast’s foray
Into the midst of the writhing human--tide
Awaked from its sleep to darken the day
Of Light’s sweet ray on each soul’s promised bride,
Like fog on the sea this shadow does creep
’cross land and time t’ward its moment of heart.
The end must be near and we’re all asleep,
I shout, as the beast moves, its wrath to impart.
The sweet virgin strains, her birth pains foretell
Of one second coming whose purpose some fear,
Foreboding certain to sound the death knell
To cowards and sheep unwilling to hear
The message tied in heart—cloth, now bitter, now torn,
As the rough beast once more slouches toward Bethlehem to be born.
-------Larry Walker