the tree

there is a famous
photo from
Marion, Indiana
showing two
men who were lynched

a few years ago I met
the man who would
have been the third man
lynched that night
very late in his life

he was grateful he was
given a second chance
and he was determined to
leave a positve mark
and he spoke about that night

the years had faded
but his memory had not
and he recalled that night
when he was just a boy
and how he prayed and prayed

that he would be spared
and unlike the other two
he was let go
and continued to tell
of that night and that tree