For Thomas Becket And Oscar Romero

FOR THOMAS BECKET AND OSCAR ROMERO

This floor's stones
drank Becket’s blood
as we sip the blood for Christ.
Will they cry out in the wilderness
like Jerusalem’s hosanna streets
or Abel’s fatal fertile field?
What shall they cry?
For joy or retribution? Make straight
with voice of grief or voice of glory?
And if you wear the miter right
will 4 knights join you at vespers
-- death squad with silent feet?
And when they come
will you be waiting
with clear eye and steady hand?

-- lines written at Canterbury Cathedral at the spot of Becket's martyrdom
-- recently downloaded The Violence Of Love -- quotations from Romero