dying by degrees

i used to think that he failed in his mission,
or maybe his followers were to blame,
the ones who ran around preaching in his name
like the men who ride the subway each day

reminding us all that we need to be saved.
i wonder what their words are meant to mean
ringing out into the dead-cold spaces between
as each rides on to destinations of their own.

maybe it’s no one’s fault that little has changed
for us here, how the faces we meet in passing
at best convey a blank stare much like ones
i imagine he saw on his way up to calvary.

beyond apathy it seems is where most reside
and belief in a man who died won’t alter this
fact if the ones we see each day dying by
degrees can’t shake us awake from our sleep.