Sitting on a stone

Angels expect to happen   what we’ve been told
will happen   unlike you   or that old man  
overawed by incense   & Gabriel’s presence  
who stammered   
          How can this be done?
when told in their old age  
he & his wife would have a son   Why
shouldn’t the archangel strike him dumb?

Herod was worse   hammered against
what Micah foretold   brought his shocking
sceptre   down on every baby’s head  
          & then   even the fishermen  
questioned among themselves
what they’d been clearly shown

So try not to hold   my mocking tone
against me when I said   Why
do you seek the living among the dead?
as I sat on that rolled-away stone