Take heart

the world's been overcome

Yggdrasil's held the holy one

cold iron fixed the maker's son

twixt earth and heaven,

bloody, hung.

the winds of evil

tore and rang

his path held fast

his silence sang

hot blood struck dirt

up new worlds sprung

while the hanging one

with mighty hands

from the cursed earth

the sin has wrung.

Reading an article or two about the extermination of Christians in Japan in the 1600s. Sad stuff, especially since there has never been any significant number of christians in Japan since that time.

Dropped sudden in these seething earths

bubbles dimmed in twists of foam

side to side or single sway

drink water from the passing waves

til the skin is torn

the air escapes

and look,

new bubbles

swell to fill the gape

the churning of

a living grave.

You who answer desperate prayers, to you all flesh will come!
Even those desperate enough to play bible roulette,
and find that in order to "watch ourselves"
we must rebuke our brother who sins
and wait for a chance to forgive
on the grounds of repentance
and if not to that end
than at least, hopefully,
it was all a mistake.