swinging from an olive tree

By Emma McCoy

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I walk through the desert with no complete
question. This warm and shapeless town has yet
to remember the things it will forget.
It would much rather bury him and treat
the betrayal like the darkest feat
of sin. But the air is full of regret
tonight, the kind that comes with a sunset.
If God loved Judas like He’s loving me,
why did he die at the end of a noose,
choking and swinging from an olive tree?
Judas saw the Messiah come from God
and wanted to see the Roman world lose.
When the sun sets we sit, Judas and me,
missing the point, under an olive tree.

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Emma McCoy is a literature student at Point Loma Nazarene University, California. Much of her poetry explores biblical narratives through re-imagination, closed forms and a close look at the structures and imagery of the original stories. When she's not writing, she spends her time outdoors chasing the downhill -- either skiing or mountain-biking.

Emma's other poems on Foreshadow:
- a voice in the darkness (October 2021)
- the third movement of Genesis (January 2021)
- To Cross the Jordan (June 2021)

​Related work on Foreshadow:
- At Judas' funeral (Poetry by Carl Winderl)

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From the Editor: This poem about missing the point describes how Judas misunderstands Jesus' calling, which is to save the world -- not through force, but through sacrificial love.