The Disinherited
“Let the dead bury their dead”
Luke 9:60
When I sat in my Honda and the gas
was not enough to end my life, I went
about my day. I did feel like an ass.
I smiled but had no cause for merriment.
The day I cut a Bible into two,
I was unwell. And on the day I threw
my Bible in the trash, people were vexed.
But why put Latin on that Hebrew text?
I looked at it and had a point of view.
Edited:
“I am a jealous God,” the Lord
announces, and He is not wrong.
To bend the knee is our reward.
I bow my head to sing this song.
It’s that time of year when it could easily be snowing.
Instead of that, it’s raining, and it’s been raining all night:
a heavy rain, a rain like the Plagues of Egypt.
It’s late December, and Christmas is looming up
for Christians on this planet, a day of presents and hope.
I’m always telling clients to live in the now,
but the future is hard to get away from.
“Without that window, days pile up like leaves,”
I tell them, “leaves shorn of the life-giving sap.”
Hope helps us stay alive – hope that our lives
will lift and grow from one day to the next.
I encourage clients to find that hope wherever they can:
in springtime; in Christmas; in a system of belief.
Perhaps the rain’s a sign that life goes on. Perhaps
it’s a sign from Heaven the universe cares for us.
The Disinherited
Hi Phil,
Thanks for the visit! Yes, the three deleted stanzas are weary, but to achieve that, they are flat, I believe, and pull away from the opening. I too think they're better gone. As for the tone, I think a suicide attempt is tough to write about - "I have done it again," writes Sylvia Plath. And that weird smile was a feature of my madness. I found myself ridiculous, and the Honda's famously clean exhaust ironic. So yes, a very flat tone. Just the facts, ma'am, as with the Bible incidents: people were vexed. I think it is possible to write a more engaged version, but I am glad to hear this version engaged your empathy. If you've spoken to suicide survivors, perhaps you've noticed their flatness and matter-of-factness. I've seen that more than once.
I'd forgotten I've moved a third stanza in here in the MS. SO I've just copied it in now, about a jealous God.
Cheers,
John
Thanks for the visit! Yes, the three deleted stanzas are weary, but to achieve that, they are flat, I believe, and pull away from the opening. I too think they're better gone. As for the tone, I think a suicide attempt is tough to write about - "I have done it again," writes Sylvia Plath. And that weird smile was a feature of my madness. I found myself ridiculous, and the Honda's famously clean exhaust ironic. So yes, a very flat tone. Just the facts, ma'am, as with the Bible incidents: people were vexed. I think it is possible to write a more engaged version, but I am glad to hear this version engaged your empathy. If you've spoken to suicide survivors, perhaps you've noticed their flatness and matter-of-factness. I've seen that more than once.
I'd forgotten I've moved a third stanza in here in the MS. SO I've just copied it in now, about a jealous God.
Cheers,
John
You reeled me in John and then you added a 'missing' stanza. I am unhooked! The OT I binned a long time ago, but the poem is your pond, so I'll let you fish