72
Joseph / Prohens
Penitents
They have come from some horror, And they have brought or found an animal They can feel is further outcast than they are; A lower object to saddle with their wickedness, The better suited to their need as, not a stone, It will cry out and bleed as they do. They learnt how to punish from what banished them To this forlorn bare place. For the animal The wilderness is where it might survive – Unclever beast that has no soul to be seared. Human iniquities bound upon its back Will not damn it. Sticking to skill and cunning it might escape The thoughtful clever humans Who’ll never be absolved from the Hell they have made.