(with delight, to be honest)

"Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves;" Mark 11:15

though we imagine

(with delight, to be honest)

you picking up a whip

and using it in that moment,

maybe it was that simple

withering look of disappointment

(like my mother often had)

that got the folks to pack up

and skedaddle.

though we hear 

(with delight, to be honest)

your loud, angry voice 

piling umbrage upon all

those knuckleheads in that place,

maybe it was simply 

the crack in your voice 

as it broke, while staring 

around at the desecration

that made them back away.

(c) 2023 Thom M. Shuman