messiah

it hasn’t been enough to find the waiting unbearable
the messiah said to his followers
you keep pushing for me to reach that perfection pinnacle
and yet you don’t want to get lost in the
never-ending journey of discovery

the followers cried out.
we know the way! let us show you! we know
exactly

how we want to see you become our leader.

and so he followed, for a time,
the path so guided by the worshipping masses.
he followed it straight, he followed it through
narrow ravines
and across cliffs
through mountain ranges and wind-swept prairie
through moss covered forests and rain drenched trees

he followed them where he was led.

and it wasn’t salvation.
it wasn’t anything but
the simplicities
he had warned himself about in a past life.

a little stumble along the way,
he ran into a turtle who knew no boundaries
to lifespan or time or the essence of freedom

and that turtle spoke to him
in simplicities
that seemed brighter and more wise than anything
the gospels purported to know.

and that turtle, with its feet clenching four seas
knew some truths to the world that this messiah
never could have imagined to stumble upon any other way.
he knew the masses were not always right.

he knew the masses were easily corrupted.
he knew the answers wouldn’t ever be free of difficulty.

yes yes, the wait was unbearable to the masses
the way he took his time in the shower made them shudder to think
of the wasted effort along the way to perfection.
but someday, the messiah thought,
it wouldn’t be a wait any longer.
and dissapointment would melt away
when he became what they all knew in their hearts
was who he was supposed to be.