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At The Penal Administrator's Office
Of course their two leaders, Simon and Paul,
deserved no less than death, an execution
for their defiance of the Empire's law.
Caesar's assessors made the correct call.
But, for all others, that extreme solution
is really not the most profitable.
Klling a man causes specific cost
that cannot be recovered, and is lost.
As for this other Galilaean, John
(his name is), my instructions have been drawn
up---to transport him to the penal isle
called Patmos, to be worked right to his death.
Labor is hard there; the camp's odor---vile
(so that you hardly dare to take a breath);
even the guards (like our tamed monkeys) stink.
Old John will not much like his situation---
to have his life spent on the Empire's labor.
I hope that Patmost will seem like damnation,
with no chance for an end to that exile.
That ought to shake him to his very soul
in rather shocking, sudden revelation.
The point will be just harsh enough, I think.
He will not feel much like "loving one's neighbor."
Starward
[jlc]
