RSTh. (from the anthology Imagined Greetings) And they came to him with their questions, insisting that he resolve the matter in their wounds. He told them of the musings of the heart's silence, of a vision he had of a bird singing in the serenity of a nation at peace with itself. But strident voices called in language that hurt the dignity of his vision. Again they came ready now for a confrontation he could not refuse. He told them of a nation that would believe in itself, of a few that sought to atone for the indifference of the rest. They erected a floodlit cross then, and the crows gathered and croaked in the gloom about him. |