Doxology

I think what I learned, friend
is that I must forfeit, sitting
with my feet flat on the floor:
kind and clever, gently puzzled
but never angry--that I must
while being used, never once lose
my cheer, must have patience
with enemies, demons, & mockers;
in sacred gullibility and holy naivety,
allowing quick and angry evil men
to overcome, must
at the very moment of their triumph,
with no malice, disappear
having won nothing, taken nothing,
with invincible forgiveness and grace:
must simply slip their shackles and rise
indifferent as a child, to find
something that matters. All
our youthful lusts and pride ached
for this one forbidden frontier,
this carefree undoing--
and are banished to its dusky fog
once found. So by surrender and defeat,
I walk beside the furies and the waves
silent, broken, enslaved, and whole.




aug 2017