THE CARRIER.

Mesmerised by the view I sat,
legs folded to my chest, arms wrapped around my legs
I sat and I stared for minutes
hours even, enthralled at the cyans and the magnetas
the sunset yellows and royal purples
Every tribe was there itseemed to me
the brooding indian girls,
constantly rewrapping their saris around their frail torsos
The flashing redheaded vikings,
Their swords usedas a wedge for their flapping kilts
The apprehensive mandarins in kimonos, Their slitted eyes
furrowed in contemplation
Peals of laughter from the the Yoruba women, who
gossiped as they shared steaming bowls of fufu
The eclectic masai tribesmen almost
naked with spears, eyes alert ready to strike
The aborigines covered in layers of dust from their trek

At first, when the spectacle began,
We had only seen jews, in tassels and beards,
looking condescendingly at everyone else
But then when we really looked we saw everyone else
And we were amazed at how quickly word spread of the carrier
even we too had heard and come to see
Quickly too we noticed bags at the feet of the multitude
Some gilded and sequinned, others mere bundled up rags
though different in appearance, all the bags carried the same burdens
Everyone had brought their bags,for the carrier


When the time finally came, and the carrier passed
Unimaginable the load he carried behind him
He had a cross on his back and attached to it
a net,as far and long as the width of the earth
as he passed the people threw their bags at him
some fell on to his cross and stuck
others to the net below, some were simply relieved
to be rid of their gilded burdens, Others silently shed tears
thankful to their silent saviour.
The carrier trudged on, his smile almost rueful
and as he passed, I looked down and saw
My own little bag of burdens, small and unseemingly
I stood up, picked my bag and tried to throw it on to the heap
But, my fingers failed me, Shame overwhelmed me
and I thought to myself 'I will not be like all the others,
I will carry my burdens
and endure what was my due'

The carrier stopped , and he turned sensing my dilemma
He smiled patiently waiting for me to see
And in his smile I realized that the burden was
not mine to carry It had become his burdens,
one he would gladly bear
I gave up my burden, not to the carrier
But to my friend who had come
just for me!


The Jews looked away in disgust
They would never be as cowardly as the world was
They would carry their burdens hanging from their tassels
Their burdens the heaviest of all