Joseph crouched behind a bush and heard words as they moved between the bodies in front of him like a sieve, sifted to brief sentences. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” And, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” And so it went, words trickling back to him through the crowd, then through the tiny leaves of the bush, the thin, brittle branches, then past the little red birds busy at his face.
When he came out from behind the bush and stood, he saw his son and thought, he is saving himself, healing himself of all his sorrows.
From his hands and feet, that last drop of blood.
