Why did Judas
backstab Jesus
with a kiss?
Wouldn’t a knife
serve as a tool
more fitting
for a job
like this?

Ahh, but a knife
betrays The One
who wields it
in the dead
of night..
for, it still
glimmers,
traitorously,
once unsheathed..
and even under
dim moonlight.

A backstab
with a kiss,
however,
only takes
a pair of lips..
And a proximity
in space and time..
and trust from Him,
who gracefully
receives..
the victim
of its crime.

Upon the surface,
loving tenderness
is all that it
communicates.
Only its giver is,
in truth, aware
of how it seals
the other’s fate.

Alas, unlike with knives,
the edge of every kiss
is double..
and often spells upon
its ill-intentioned giver
just as dire,
if not greater,
trouble.

Indeed,
whatever its intent
may be..
the kissing blade
forever
cuts both ways.
You don’t believe me?
Ask Judas Iscariot.
If word of mouth
is to be trusted..
then upon The Tree
is where he hangs.