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At King Herod's Ruse
King Herod, who expected all obey
him, was not thwarted by a brief gainsay.
He found a slave who looked like Salome
(one of his brother's bastards, I dare say).
To her he gave his niece's crown and name
as well as demonstrations of his lust
(brief burning, like a falling star's quick flame,
or like the passing of a desert gust).
After that awful party, and its shame,
his niece had packed and fled to Galilee,
and found Christ teaching others by the sea, [*]
and was baptized by two apostles. She
followed Him from that time. Good Friday's gloom
did not deter that. To the garden tomb,
she went, barefoot, with others, that third day,
and found it empty. There, an angel said
that Christ (as He foretold) rose from the dead,
(death had been conquered, and its shadowed dread;
the fate of mankind was no longer dark);
and that they should go to tell the eleven.
Later, she saw Christ taken up to Heaven.
She spoke much of this, in Jerusalem,
always in fellowship with all of them
who claimed Christ's name and by His Word were led.
Later, she shared her witness with young Mark.
Starward
[jlc]
