The Wheel, The Cross, The Flame

 

I provided you

with stone and timber

to craft a wheel:

 

for rolling cargo,

milling grain

telling time.

 

But you also

put two on the axel

of a chariot that raced in war.

 

That was not my intent.

 

       II

 

I provided you

with stone and timber

to carve a cross:

 

for symbolizing keys,

measuring stars

surveying land.

 

But you also

crucified thief and martyr -- (a King)

by hammering nails

into flesh and  oak

 

That was not my intent

 

III

I provided you

with stone and timber

to wake a flame:

 

for heating homes,

lighting lamps

forging steel.

 

 

But you also

bundled sticks

and built a pyre, struck flint

to burn a witch or saint;

 

the wind

clutching their  hair,

their bodies

girdled in rope

as the bramble ignited.

 

That was not my intent.

 

        IV 

     

Now they're all my sorrows

matted and bloodied

in this field

 

like  feathers

of  that sling-shot bird.

 

And the stone which killed her,

( white-throated hawk)

left in  woods

that have petrified and will not burn.