with your sandals on the stone steps looking so good
and saying the Lord's word,
but baby, there's no shortage of fools and no shortage of wood
to make a stake to tie my Sebastian still.
cos the plague comes off the ships you meet so you can
tell 'em the Lord's word,
but baby, no one knows better than me you're just a man
who can be touched and can be killed.
Sparrows, sparrows,
if His eye is on you, make Him look this way.
Arrows, arrows,
If He loved Sebastian like me
He wouldn't make him pay so hard, He'd stop the archery.
Sebastian, you're gonna break my heart
when they leave you there all bloody in the sun
still saying the Lord's word.
Baby, let's go back to France before this day is done
but you won't listen and you never will.
Sparrows, sparrows,
if His eye is on you, make Him look this way.
Arrows, arrows,
if He loved Sebastian like me
He wouldn't make him pay so hard, He'd stop the archery.
_________
For Day 10.
Sebastian was used as target practice for Roman archers as punishment for spreading the Word. He somehow survived and was rescued and nursed back to health, only to be clubbed to death later. Sebastian is the patron saint of soldiers, athletes, and those who desire a saintly death.
But no, he wouldn't listen. Bloody martyrs, I dunno! Good point about the sparrows.
ReplyDelete...and we love them because they are so good, brave, and resolute. There aren't many of them like this
ReplyDeleteOh, that refrain is so damn cool! This is so you. I love it.
ReplyDeleteBloodthirsty Romans. I love the sparrows refrain. A cool tale, so well told.
ReplyDeleteThis reads like a chant or a plea....well done Shay as always!!
ReplyDeleteYou present an age old question, why doesn't "He" "stop the archery"
ReplyDelete"If He loved Sebastian like me He wouldn't make him pay so hard, He'd stop the archery."
Very well done, such a good write on Sebastian.
monologue to a martyr - very creative and unique:
ReplyDelete"Sebastian, you're gonna break my heart
cos the plague comes off the ships you meet so you can
tell 'em the Lord's word,"
More like a song than anything static as a poem--the rhyme is swoony good and the cadence reinforces the mantra of perplexity in the face of the mysterious ways of the Almighty and those who court his favor instead of more tangle rewards..I especially like the arrows and sparrows.
ReplyDeleteI really like the refrain of sparrows and arrows. It's tough loving a saint. They are so damned noble! I enjoyed this a lot. Out me in mind of those girl groups of the '60s.
ReplyDeleteYour closing describes all the frustration and outrage I've always felt towards abusers and those who sit around doing nothing while the abuse is done. My love can't make sense of the inaction. I can't see how anyone's love could.
ReplyDeleteCan't say I desire a saintly death - but I can relate to having my heart broken over one who did. Poor Sebastian!
ReplyDeleteSparrows, sparrows,
ReplyDeleteif His eye is on you, make Him look this way.
Arrows, arrows,
If He loved Sebastian like me
He wouldn't make him pay so hard, He'd stop the archery
what a pulsing refrain - it just so works within this piece - and how you've woven this tale, ah yes, let's go back to France, stir the dust, raise Joan back, I wonder, did she ever love anyone but God, in any other way than a missionary position?