How dare he refuse to be blindfolded!
When you proffered him a concluding cigarette
He waved it away
Sneering at your sanctimonious smoke
You shook your fist at him
Sweat dripped into your own eyes
His rigid reticence provoked you
So you gave the order
You, the executioner,
With your empty lamentations
Commissioned the clicking ratchets
And raised your arms skyward
The triumphant thunderclap proclaimed
Your victory:
To blot out his sight behind the rough fabric of death
And leave him openmouthed and exposed
Were you surprised and bitter
When the bullets failed to blind him?
He, unstruck and unruffled,
Heedless of your humiliation
by Christy Noel
4/4/03