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Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Two Books



In a dream you went to heaven and stood
   in a room of light and mist
Nothing else was in the room
   but two tables of stone
Upon each table a thick book lay
   ready to be opened

The Angel of Truth came in and stood
   between the volumes both
‘What are these books you guard so close?
   and why are they bound so thick?’

‘They are books of truth. In them
   you will see events, none false!
‘All recorded exactly as
   they happened, as they are!’

Your eyes, they glowed—to see the truth!
   To understand what’s REAL
To know what had happened in the world
   untainted by man’s emotion

‘It is, however, given to you,
   to read but one, but one’

Hesitation. Only one?
   ‘What is the difference between?’

‘One book has every word
   of hate, of spite, of ill
‘spoken by men concerning you
   hid from your eye and ear’

The blood, it flowed into your neck
   Surely there’d been many

‘The other has every word of good
   men spoke of you in secret
‘The both are true, by my right hand
   inscribed. Now you may choose’

Your mind a swirling mess of thought
   If I open the first one at last
I will know the liars who smile to my face
   and scorn behind my back

Oh, the power! I would know
   those bastards for who they are!
Finally the covers would be removed
   And what’s in the second book?

Only the good? Why even bother?
   Yes, it would be lovely to know
the nice things they say. But how naïve
   to want to see only the good

‘Think well upon it,’ said the angel
   'Those quoted in each book
'may not be whom you expect
   the words to have come from

'For know! the human mouth is weak
   as is the human heart’

If I open the first, I will likely find
   my dearest friends, my mates
And know the words they spoke in shame
   but spoke none the same

But in this knowing my heart will turn
   each word a seed of angst
Planted in hurt and volatile ground
I will be turned against all I love
   and against all who love me

In the second the voices will be the same
   but quoted in moments of courage
For isn’t a kind word more difficult to speak?
   Their words will be food to my soul

To know that even the antagonists
   have stood up in my favor
But… your eye still lingered on the first
   will that tome not serve me better?

The angel saw your thoughts and strife,
   and spoke in gentle tone,
‘You want to know the absolute?'
   Your eyes said, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’

‘The problem lies in what thing
   you consider to be “true”.
'For in the mind-bound earthly life
   of inconsistency,
'of fractured thoughts and paradox,
   there is no WHOLE truth'

‘All is split in two, as you
   see these volumes twain
'The good is true, the evil is true
   to either you can subscribe'

‘The REAL truth is not forcibly
   that which happened so or not
'TRUE are those things which draw your heart
   to the Father of it all'

‘For to know the ill, it may be real,
   but, how does it serve you?
'It will cause only a further ill,
   and further evil still

‘But to know the good, if only half
   your heart will fill with strength
'to change even the other half
   into good for your own sake

‘In either book is power,
   the power of knowledge unknown
'But one of them will dry your soul,
   the other make it grow

‘Now choose.’

I didn’t see which book you cracked,
   the choice was terribly hard
But I hope you missed the things I said
   against you on the side

Though it is true, I said them all
   still somehow it is not
I spoke them in a moment of
   falsehood to me and you

The truth is that no matter what
   deep inside, I love you

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Civilization

They never have
   the earth beneath their feet
And the sun
   above their heads
So sheltered are they
   by the cocoon of civilization
This egg of concrete
When will they hatch?