One day when David went barefoot
In sad shame and destitute
Fleeing Absalom his rebel son
Who by flattery had his kingdom won

A rejected king – dejected and in tears
Followed by men, women and fears
Will be he ever sit on the throne again?
Or forever be on this plane of pain?

Out came a worthless man
Culled from Benjamin’s clan
His name was Shimei
And he was worse than a spy

He cursed David and said
His loss was a just punishment
For usurping the fallen Saul
He mistook tragedy for judgement

The rejected king still had warriors
One was appalled by the cripple’s slurs
And offered to send the offending head
With a sword swish to spinning dread

David in grief still dispensed mercy
He said ‘perhaps the Lord permitted’
This knave to trot and speak perversely
The sceptre of death faded briefly

The rejected king returned triumphant
For Absalom’s rebellious flair
Ended in a hanging thicket of hair
His horse bolted into vanishing air

David in triumph was not malignant
Shimei pledged and pleaded for mercy
David the happy and victorious warrior
Freely and frankly forgave his obstinacy

The tales of Shimei did not end there
For a dying David told Solomon
To finish the job as a true heir
By trapping Shimei with his demon

To catch a trucebreaker; declare a truce
Shimei agreed thinking it was a ruse
Thinking pleas would sway David’s son
But by this default his life’s day was done

When the royal of Son of David returns
To avenge railing against hallowed Word
All hollow pleas would be null and dud
Old railers cannot live in the Son’s reign
Make peace with the rejected King now
In His minority – pledge your true fealty
Before the day all are compelled to bow