Hope
by Rolf Parker-Houghton
On his way to Bethlehem,
King Sigurd offered Saracens of Colares
the sacrament on the tip of a spear.
If they took the sacred into their mouths, they lived.
Otherwise, they took the iron point
through the throat.
For Sigurd was very much a Viking
and while also a Christian, of some sort,
he didn’t really love his enemies
as much as he loved killing them.
He is famous for winning every battle,
and for bringing back from Jerusalem
a splinter of the “true cross”
to Trondheim.
But this is how we stumble forward.
First, all the Viking converts,
had to be baptized.
Granted, a mere dunk in the water
didn't make a man less murderous,
but hang on.
They also had to give up
sacrificing people to Odin.
And yes, Sigurd still went on Viking raids,
and his men lurched down bloody roads,
famously plundering parts of Portugal.
But with time, raids and bludgeoning,
were no longer acceptable behavior
for the warriors of a Norwegian King.
Give it a few centuries, and a few centuries more,
and the Christian socialists of Norway
were successfully demanding
compassionate care for all.
Sigurd didn’t really know what he had started
and we can’t know
how much kinder
we may become.
Rolf Parker-Houghton is a freelance writer of history. He also writes a column on math and science education for Parents Express. His poems have been published in The Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry, and he was shortlisted in the O' Bheal the 10th Five Words International Poetry Contest. He and his wife, the artist Cynthia Parker-Houghton, live in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA, with their son, Morgen. Together they have created many “replenishable treasure hunts” on wooded trails in the Brattleboro area and published codes that lead to the beautiful objects that they hide. They also create street theatre and other free events. “Pugna desperandum cum humor et in conventu cum aliis.”
