while his feet
burned
he was still
singing
the te deum
in a loud and clear voice:
o god we praise thee
we acknowledge thee
to be lord...
till the smoke
of his body
made him choke
the listening henchmen
said to each other:
today
we killed a dangerous man
god
was closer to him
than his feet
Written in the memory of Jan Hus, who was burned at the stake in the year 1415 in Constance (Germany) accused of 'heresy'. A friend, to whom I told the story, asked the question, what the listeners must have thought, when they overheard the 'heretic' praising god. The poem tries to answer this question.