the woman brought before My Son
accused of adultery

was me

. . . could have been me, they ringed
with their stony eyes and
hardened hearts
fingers itching, bodies aching
to be next, too late to be the first

to cast a stone before the One
Who would know
what it's like

to bear the Last Straw (Light
as a Cross) if Joseph
hadn't stepped forward,

which is what
My Son
probably wrote in the sand, in
Belshazzar font, those oh so many
years ago

: Where is the man?