threadfollower

A car passes by

A car passes by. 
The driver, leans up, under
my mirrored, still face.

3 – Of Cruelty

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

For my part, even in matters of justice, any thing 
that is beyond mere death seems to me pure cruelty.

We should practice these inhuman barbarities
on what is insensible, not on the living flesh.

We find nothing in the ancient histories 
more excessive than what we experience every day.

Nature has herself implanted in man some instinct of inhumanity.
Considering that one master has placed us in this palace for his service.

For that is the extreme limit that cruelty can attain.
That a man should kill a man solely as spectacle!

2 – Of Goodness

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

Can it be true that, to be really good,
we must needs be so by an
occult, natural and universal disposition,
without law, without reason, without example?

What there is in me of good I owe
to the chance of my birth.  I derive it
neither from law, nor from precept,
nor from any other teaching.

I very tenderly compassionate
the afflictions of another.  There is
nothing that draws forth my tears,
save tears.

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.