December 2020 – Page 3 – A Thread You Follow

1- Of Virtue

(Found Poem in Michel de Montainge’s “Of Cruelty” translated by George B. Ives)

Virtue is a different and a nobler thing.
Virtue presupposes difficulty and contention
and can be practiced without an adversary.

To have our resolutions and our reasonings
superior to all the force of fortune;
opportunities must be sought for putting them to the proof.

True virtue requires a tough and thorny road.
Lack of apprehension and stupidity thus
sometimes counterfeit virtuous conditions.

My virtue is a virtue, casual and fortuitous.
I owe virtue more to my fortune than to my sense.

“…but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant…” – Mark 10:40

Left-handed God,
Right-handed God,
Many-handed Gods,
we have to hand it to you;
handing to us
what is at hand
and then
we hand that power, 
in hope of being chosen,
back to you.
Place faith in our hands
in our hands.
Amen.

And drink your wine with a merry heart. – Ecclesiastes 9:7b

Grape-maker, Grape-grower,
whose vines trellis the world,
the grape-drinkers thirst
for fine vintages
that dance on the tongue
and gambol the heart.
Amen.

Go, eat your bread with enjoyment. – Ecclesiastes 9:7a

Deliverer of bodies,
who laid out your body
on a cross and in a tomb,
who turned your body
into bread at a table,
who created the field of us;
how we all want to wave
together, swaying,
as your breath
moves across our faces;
too full to even move.
Amen.

Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers! – Psalm 140:1

Maker of weal and woe,
who confounds the paths of the innocent
while twisting the paths of the guilty,
Is it possible for the scribbled way
and the straight way to not intersect?
For when they do,
death follows.
Amen.

On either side of the river is the tree of life… – Revelation 22:2

Maker of
pines and pin oaks,
burning bushes and the Joshua tree,
evergreens and the piñon,
who centers every tree
in our Garden of Creations;
gather roots around us,
intertwine each with the other,
so fruit of all flavors
drops like jewels
through grasping fingers
into open hands.
Amen.

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” – Isaiah 40:6

Oracle of old,
Word before words,
who dances with Miriam
as horse and rider are thrown into the sea,
who plunges into the cold, closing surf
with each chariot driver,
What shall we cry?
For news is
black and white with countless grays
and the people stir by the easy way.
What shall I cry?
Make the call simple.
Amen.

“I have set before you life and death.” – Deuteronomy 30:11

God,
who creates chaos and destroys order
who arranges and fells,
lean into your dream
for life a little bit more,
so the many who feel
free from your holy choice
choose life
for life's sake.
Amen.

You search out my path and my lying down. – Psalm 139:3

Scout and Tour Guide,
who knows my ways
even before those ways
become ways of possible ways;
many feel tied down
on a one-way track to hell;
broaden our imagination
of potential pathways
so we desire life
with one another
 once again.
Amen.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting…” – Ecclesiastes 7:2

God of the Hovel, the Hole, the House and the Hotel,
who creates a room for each of us,
a nameplate, not a number, on the door, 
which we close to keep the noise of others out
while binging-watching our own noise;
though we may shed tears for the end of a season
the well of our deep grief dries;
Move us to go next door to our neighbor
who knows only tears of aloneness.
Amen.