man with a sign (23)

man with a sign

he is statuestoic, cruciformtall & planted
like a grim, gnarly tree by the river of waters
near the one eighty third st. & twenty-seventh ave
bus stop, there each morning before sunrise even when
the sun doesn’t show. his sign screams “repent ye for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand!” at motorists &
bus riders & pedestrians alike. the dark shadows
cast about his opaque & angular face, black &
foreboding, even more than the hand scrawled words on his
time-crumpled poster. he stands to the morning rush hour,
a bleak promise of hell’s certainty, at the outer
perimeters of fierce faith, angry & onward, a real
christian soldier, a devil’s doppelganger of doom!

© Joseph McNair; 2009