31 Aug Come, All Ye Doubtful
Posted at 14:02h
in Poems
Come, all ye doubtful,
Would you call me doubter if you were there
Below a tearful Man floating mid-air
Who might be marvelous or meaningful
Named in trembling touch and invasive stare
Torn at the threads in coupled silver lace
I witnessed something pretty and powerful
But doubt’s quiet raindrops fell on my face
Come, all ye doubtful
You cannot touch the light but only see
So you know so well of the ugly
Your faith never fails, it goes untried
And faith is tried when your Lord has died
None of you could love what you could not lose
And if it is loved if you choose to love it no more
That would not be the love I have loved Him for
Come, all ye doubtful
If it were not obscure I would be no believer
I never believed in something believable, either
Every miracle is common, the common a miracle
Great virtues so simple, small virtues impossible
Could you have seen the beauty where
You knew the secrets of the magical
And every branch you lifted was bare
I will
Like a falling dream enter in flight
And leave my body behind tonight
Creeping through a garden to insect trill
A mime all alone crowded in streets he cannot be
Too terrified to speak no hollow godhood
Spin wheat to gold and fall to pieces, prophecy
Played the fool falling asleep in someone else’s tomb
Tell me the madness that makes all these things good
How wet the flesh must be to know that the groom
Stands in the shadow of horror where the cross stood
That hole swallows me up and down in wicker
That milk of desire curdles into ichor-elixir
And coats my swollen throat for prayers that should
Mean the world to my twin as much it does to me
From the tops of clouds I saw more than I ever could
The most beautiful is most true inevitably
The Father made the common world not so common
Flashes of something roars in the dark of the valley
All the blades of the engine grinding loud and loose
The suffering has an order and practical use
No wood cuts plain but must have grain to be wood
And how
I probe in reddened poultice flesh
Its movement draws His blood afresh
His eyes flash for vengeance now
So much mystery in joy and luminous dread
Still more in sorrow and the glory ahead
These sway in vanilla winds rising without limit
But I fell for the lie the world tells every minute
My anxious soul is a soul still pleading
Teach me to pray, not to beg, for all my needing
Fat, fleshy fingers feel what the eyes cannot
I smell perfume, not the smoke nor the rot
He says with dread anger, Did you not used to see
Maybe that was when you still believed in Me
O doubtful, will you ever come near
Together we can sing till our throbbing voices hurt
Dead in the same old fear on the same old dirt
This soul of mine found a good thing to need
Clawing at the space between the roots and trees
Come lay your body on mine and weep
Life is one word, and a meaningful one indeed