He was welcomed back to Nazareth
Folk proud of their own
Smiles and handshakes all around
Good to have you home
Nice to see you back again
Come in and settle down
See you synagogue Sabbath day
We’ve heard you’ve broke new ground
But then it all back-fired on him
Murmurings went round
This is Joe’s lad carpenter
What’s this game he’s found?
Reading preaching teaching
Where did he get all this?
This is not the lad we know
We’ll not be having this
It must have been a shock to them
To hear the things he said
And what we cannot understand
We like to scoff instead
How soon our pleasant attitude
Can turn to sour repulse
A short step then to violence
He wasn’t one of us
Brian Fahy
13 March 2023
Erris Poetry 