Holy Saturday

what were they doing today?

Cleaning toilets
trying to forget
their dreams
draining away?

maybe Peter wished
he was hom
eating warmed-up
passover food
trying to forge
a way out
of his
wilderness.

did Joanna
have her Saturday list:
groceries to buy,
errands to run,
kids to a soccer game,
a full honey-do jar?

perhaps Herod and Pilate
nursed hangovers
out too late last night
hitting every pub
on the Street of Tears
till they got
thrown out of the
Last Station.

were children
being shushed by
fear-ridden parents,
told
to stop playing
'soldiers and messiahs?'

did the angels
tip-toe
around heaven
afraid
to speak
too loudly
wondering
what with the Word
God was doing
behind
that rolled stone?

what were they doing today . . .

before God
yanked the legs
out
from under
death?

(c) 2001 Thom M. Shuman