that season tongues rotted like fat figs on broken branches
"Heresy" Yusef Komunyakaa
Yes, blood lit the sword
East & West to divide
Gods from Homo sapiens.
No, it wasn't the penis
Pharisees wished abridged
& amputated. That season
Tongues rotted like fat figs
On broken branches. Pelagian
Wit could cost a man his head.
Women were already banished
From the pulpit, & their songs
Held only an after-scent of myrrh.
Some sculpted lies & dripped gold
Into them. Others saw burning pyres
& said Free Will couldn't live
In a doll's body, termites in the godhead.