Perish by the Sword
Malchus was a servantman
Of Caiaphas the Sadducee,
Who tried to capture Jesus
In a garden at Gethsemane –
But Simon Peter drew his sword
And leapt into a fray,
And before the verse had ended,
Peter smote an ear away.
That ear belonged to Malchus,
On the right side of his battered head,
Though nobody appeared to care
As Malchus simply stood and bled.
And no-one apprehended Peter,
All seemed to ignore –
And Jesus even healed it for him –
(Well, one time in four…)
And once the casual violence
Had fulfilled an ancient prophecy –
The incident was never raised again,
And no apology.
Perhaps there was a metaphor
About ‘too deaf to hear’ ?
But still, the Bible soon forgets
Poor Malchus and his ear…
Rhyming Couplets 