I Do Not Fear You Anymore Poem by Chris Zachariou

This place is bleak.

There are no flowers
the land is scarred
and all the birds have fled.

A solitary burnt out tree
with a broken branch
is struggling to survive
against disease and darkness.

I'm frightened.
I know I must go to the river
to wash away my sins;
but the sacred river died so many
years ago
and now only vipers and serpents
hiss and slither in its rancid waters.

Your malice is so complete.

I crawled along this thorny path
so many times before but every
time it is harder to return.

You lay the burden of a cross
on my stooping shoulders and you
command your white horseman
to trample on all the things I love.

Each day you scream:
Kneel before your Lord and Master.
You shall have no other Lord but Me.

But I will not yield to you this time.
The cross, the nails and the thorny
crown became wings and set me free

and now lord,
I do not fear you anymore.