“It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.” – 2 Samuel 11:2.

It happened? Oh, yes, and Oh, no.
It happened that you noticed.
It happened that you looked closely.
It happened that you inquired.
It happened that you sent.
It happened that you raped.
It happened that you sent the victim home.
It happened that she conceived by you.
It happened that you tried to cover it up.
It happened that her husband had more integrity than you.
It happened that you sent him to the army.
It happened that you ordered his death.

It happened, David, every step,
because you chose, decided, acted,
harmed, and hurt, and murdered.

A pity that you couldn’t have heard Jesus’ words,
which were, it’s true, a thousand years away:
“If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out.”
We’d read about a mystery of how you lost your eye,
not how you raped and killed with scarce a thought.

I hope Bathsheba’s presence smote your heart
with guilt on each remaining day you lived.

A poem/prayer based on 2 Samuel 11:1-15, the Revised Common Lectionary Alternative First Reading for Year B, Proper 12 (17).

The image is David Sees Bathsheba Bathing by James Tissot – https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/d/images/3/3a/King_David_Bathsheba_Bathing.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31379015.