And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. Revelations 20:4

All across the Nineveh plain the lights are going out

Crosses driven into the hearts of the last of Mesopotamia’s

Christians. These Assyrians, speaking Aramaic, the language

Of Christ, have been loyal throughout the long centuries

Of subjection to the burning wind that came, unbidden,  out of Arabia.

But the earth and the heavens have now fled,

And this is now the time of the second death.

No weasel words here, no turning of the cheek,

No meek, no mild, no gut-wrenchingly weak. 

“Maaloula is the wound of Christ," the mourners chant

In the last Christian stronghold in Syria.  Jihadist al-Nusra Front

Stormed this city: destroying statues of the mother of Christ,

Taking delight in defecating in the churches. Stripping monks

And nuns. Decapitating some. Crucifying others.

Whilst we, in the apathetic west, look on, or not

Dispirited, counting coin, afraid to face the sun

While the Turks have fun killing Christians. Again.