Portrait Poem by Parameswaran K V

He was handsome,
bowing under the weight of the cross,
bleeding from the flagellations,
yet pained at the thought
of the people that surrounded him,
for, they ‘didn't know what they were doing.'

He was handsome
as he marched on, step by step,
under the rain of scorns and aspersions
taking in his stride
the sea of sorrow that swelled in him
towards his relentless destiny.

He was the most handsome,
on the cross, hoisted between the thieves
humbling himself before the whole world
and laying down his life for the whole mankind.