I.

It is the betrayal in the garden,
and one of his disciples decides–
bizarrely–
to cut off a servant's ear;

you wonder what his thought process was:
"If I just cut off…let's see…
that guy's ear…things will be okay."

Really? 

"No," says Jesus, healing the man.
"The sword (the gun? the bomb?) is not the solution." 

II.

And why an ear?
Are we so very hard of hearing?

III.

"The sword is not the solution,
but sacrifice…"

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.