That yokel---carpenter from Galilee---
has dared to question our substantial rights
that we enjoy as benefits from Rome
(so well they have secured our ancient home);
and now he criticizes you, and me
(well, not by name; each a good Sadducee).
He ought not to cross us with his preached slights
nor try to tell me what to say or think;
my thoughts are my own, long as monkeys stink.
We need act, and soon, decisively---
one of these nights, old friend, one of these nights . . . .
Starward
Author's Notes/Comments:
In first century Judaea, the Sadduccees were collaborationists with Rome. They restricted the Scriptures to the five books of Moses, nor believed in either angels or a blessed afterlife. They dominated the Sanhedrin, before which Jesus had to endure the travesty of a procedurally illegal trial before being delivered to Pontius Pilate, the Prefect (not, at that time, Procurator; as, they tell me, that term was not in use until the reign of Claudius) of Judea. The plot against Jesus is detailed in the Gospel of the Apostle Saint John.
The phrase, "long as monkeys stink," appears in several of my previous poems; beginning with one written to meet a friendly challenge, from a poet formerly here, Craig Newman, to use that phrase in a poem. Hi Craig!
The last line's repeated four words are a phrase I read a long time ago, and have wanted to use in a poem.
