Walk with me, you say
Every mile is worth revisiting
Twenty years of life now gone
But I am with you
That note under the front cover was for you
All the poems and dreams
Splashed across pages, were for you too
Even to the completion of the age
Walk with me, you say
Every mile is worth revisiting
Twenty years of life now gone
But I am with you
That note under the front cover was for you
All the poems and dreams
Splashed across pages, were for you too
Even to the completion of the age
In the midst of the congregation the praise of Christ is hymned because of you, O Reader Joseph. Through your life at the kliros, the humble path to exaltation is made manifest, illumined with the transcendent beauty of angelic melodies. By your constancy and loyalty, standing in praise and prayer, the way of salvation is guided and guarded for us. In keeping vigils, you brightened the path leading to our unending joy. Therefore we celebrate your light-giving and holy memory, and we cry aloud in one accord: Intercede with Christ our God that our feet would be made to stand dutifully in all divine allotments of service, with our hearts stationed on Him within the Great Congregation of ineffable praises, so that we, too, would be kept from straying onto evil paths and all attain the unity of faith and the knowledge of God’s unapproachable glory.
I collect data which simpletons call facts
I make observations blinded by traditions
I pose questions about questions that deflect
I develop arguments uncomfortable to mine
I offer suggestions others call speculations
I have no evangelistic spirit
No mission below
No great commission from above
To advise others
To believe or not
Or even what to believe
As long as one believes
That belief is faith in trust that’s loyal
To the faith entrusted to those who believe
My humor is dry
I’m also not an enthusiastic tribalist
Geeked-out in defense of absolute truth
Nor am I a belligerent book burner
Or full-fledged misanthrope
I’m just heterodoxically dull
I neither assail Temple Mounts
Nor man apologetical barricades
I’m content
As an embedded intelligencer
Offering provisional judgments
Of guilded dogmas
Hoping to raise issues
Others might find worthwhile pursuing
You have been forewarned
You, with materialistic epistocracy
You, with dogmatic goggles of ideology
You, with your reductionistic bag
Of tricks, anomalies and absurdities
Explanations for every thing and why
All you who begin to listen to alternatives
Will conclude with the same
Commitments held before
Multiple limitations will become excuses
Emotions will rule in moments of disagreement
Your adversary must be aloof
To religious sensitivities
Historical complexities
Philosophical densities
Or theological tectonicities
Because you don’t actually long for the truth
In the way a drowning man struggles
For a breath of continued being
You’ll remain like those on powdered sugar
Beaches of sunny panhandles
What you really want is a way to escape
Yet remain comfortable and safe
Synonyms for justification
Of what you already trust
have you ever wondered
about how predictable you are
you, over there with hoary mane
yes, you
The one all about grace, love, and mercy
grace like the carrot of a loving noose
dangling mercifully
before the countenance of Rapunzel
showing willingness
to forgive in order to love someone
gracious and merciful who loves someone
you hate
hate is such a strong word
I suppose
despise is much more humble
and honest
instead of humble honesty
you prefer tender and winsome confabulation
like a box of disposable word masks
willing and ready to protect the mealy mouthed
from what you think God frowns upon
but wills anyway, mysteriously
like this glorious buffet of word soup
garnishing dislikes and disappointments
instead of humble honesty
that reminds me
I forgot to apologize
for your misunderstandings
slanders, idiotic assumptions, emotional abuse
and crisis of faith caused allegedly by yours truly
please accept this apology
in its classical sense
pretty please with fluffy niceties
and a gumdrop on top
your acceptance of my defense would be sweet
You missed again. This time
It wasn’t just the sting
Of shrapnel or the chips of stone
Ricocheting off the ground
Of intentional, merciful
Misfire. Or even the striking burst
That shocks others into fright
And flight. This time it was an organ
Pierced because he stands behind her
Still while you apologize and gush
Of your beloved’s love for you
And your unconditional love
For your beloved who loves another
This generation
doomed to destruction
without resurrection
for all the blood
on their hands
worships blank
Each cannot fathom
what it means
to not let one eat
if one does not work
and so they uber
to blank
They chug all the blessings
cancel all the curses
Recline on factory sofas
in air conditioned spaces
while dogs eat the crumbs
of blank
Let's all dream
of colonizing planets
injecting cures for cancers
surviving on impossible burgers
while dropping off kids at daycare
so we can celebrate blank
Our creed is simple
there is only adaption or escape
we evolved from something inhuman
pathogens are always trying to infect us
Science is real, from the big bang to your DNA
Worship blank or this generation is doomed
‘There is literally no evidence of that’
Says the random troll with an opinion
Weighing as much as a fish in the ocean
And as oblivious as a newborn seal
All the crazies are in the wild
And they have no interest in subscribing
They only think they are healthy and safe
Because of all the freedoms and privilege they’ve had
The trolls only know all four seasons of planet earth
Framed through a lens; encapsulated by glass
Guarded with steel; shaped in concrete
Its keepers are there to make sure each season is a success
All the crystalloid, chlorinated pools
And buckets of delectable fish
Are crafted to make endangered life safe and healthy
To the senses of visitors who never enter the wild
Each generation is being sold a new series
Scripted, strategized, and produced
To keep our eyes on the prize of life
The wild is really not our natural habitat
How will we survive without buckets of care?
We need them to help rehabilitate planet earth
All we have, the world and everything therein, is theirs
And they know better than us in how to care for it
Also, do you see this button?
If it gets pushed, the guardians and keepers will come
And show you where you can squat and what food you can chew
And the glass you can see through because the planet is their zoo
But the choice is entirely yours
Learn to live by their rules and be a good pup
Playing freely and feeding from their hands
Or else die by their rules and their servants will clean up