'Mansur Al-Hallaj, having heard of Christ the martyr, <br />came to Baghdad whirling on his feet, and forgave the Caliph <br />and his officials even before they did anything to him.' <br /> <br />Yet for this kind of love they chopped <br />his left foot off and broke his leg, <br />for knowledge such as this they lopped <br />his right hand off, and left a peg <br />of shattered bone to greet the ghost <br />of martyrdom inside his prayer, <br />then pinned him bat-like to a post, <br />inverted, so his scrotum, bare <br />to all, hung over his limp prick, <br />within the gloom and glow of light, <br />before they poked him with their stick <br />on what was his last living night. <br />And then they gathered round like curs <br />as he whirled through the universe.<br /><br />Leo Yankevich<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sufi/
