Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Dale WiselySeptember 23, 2000
With flaccid handshake and pallor
the boy introduces himself,
as Judas the Betrayer.
 
He is stiff, staring and flat of affect.
The doctor sees illness
in his eyes and posture.
 
The boy speaks and the doctor hears
the song of disordered thought
in meter and harmonics.
 
The doctor asks a set of questions
and orders medication with a note
as the boy is led away.
 
Now he knows that in a few days
Judas will again scramble
across the Field of Blood
 
and fall headlong and burst in the middle
and his insides will spill out
and we will be rid of him again.
 
Or perhaps when he cannot sleep,
he will close his eyes tightly
and see his own silhouette hanging.
 
And it is with this thought that the doctor
picks up the phone and
orders an overnight watch.
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Bishop Budde reminded Donald Trump that people are scared and vulnerable, and that compassion and welcome are the way of the Gospel.
Kathleen BonnetteJanuary 24, 2025
Epiphany has come and gone. But this year, it struck me for the first time that the feast we celebrate is actually composed of several epiphanies—and that comes as something of a relief.
Simcha FisherJanuary 24, 2025
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Ricardo speaks with Gerry about Pope Francis’ criticism of U.S. mass deportations and Cuba's Vatican-backed plan to release 533 political prisoners.
Inside the VaticanJanuary 24, 2025
Pope Francis shares a hug with Jerome, one of two altar servers with Down syndrome at the Mass at the close of World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, on Aug. 6, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
A sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God is when the vulnerable among us are well taken care of. That includes the unborn in their mothers’ wombs.
Brian PaulsonJanuary 24, 2025