The Zero Suite (5)

A Traveller on the Road to Emmaus

And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, ‘Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent’. And he went in to tarry with them.
– Luke 24: 13-15.


Wars and rumours of wars
even the sparrows look shell-shocked

as they huddle on the clothesline
seeing the New Year in

with beating rain and wind
the kitten steals the warm spot on the duvet

when I get up for a moment
treatises on how best to treat your slaves

from ISIS
shock when an All-Black

tweets corpse-snaps
from a refugee village

it should have come with a warning
prates some Tom Fool

so should the world
come in and tarry with us

even though I don’t believe in you
doubt that you ever existed

I like to think of that dusty road
that traveller joining the others

making as though he would have gone further
tarry with us a while

and bring a friend


(2/1-29/8/16)

•

This poem first appeared in the journal below:

Poetry NZ Yearbook 2021. Ed. Tracey Slaughter (Auckland: Massey University Press, 2021): 248-49.

•