Through the car window,
A towering black cross
Threatened us.
A predecessor
Of gallows, electric chairs and lethal injections,
It was once an instrument of imperial power.
It now proclaimed the price its famous victim paid
on the roofs of churches,
And was worn by his followers as pendants on chains
around their necks;
It has inspired thousands of paintings and hymns.
But I quickly realised
I was really seeing a light post
Silhouetted against the morning sun.
An object of another kind of power.