Victorinus, the Manichaean Sower of Malliana
Victorinus preached to free pearls trapped in soil
So plants may grow and unearth all bright pearls
To bring pearls back to their home through light’s secrets
Secrets for the downtrodden and dirty
Not to the high and hearts made of polished stone
The secrets of the garden of light and rest
The garden veiled in heaven’s lambent light
The high and hearts of stone were not given sight
So that they would see, but would not peer through
So that they would hear, but would not listen to
The garden’s seeds were only for fertile soil
Though the soil was prowled by wolves and sparrows
These seeds were not scattered among roads of stone
lest sparrows swoop down and consume them
And would squawk to alert wolves to the lone sheep
The coming winter wind blew over the fields
And it scattered some seed on the stone roads
The thorn-ridden stone roads near the Field of Blood
Alerting the sparrows that roamed this world
To a sower spreading seeds dressed in white robes
Earth itself quaked under the sparrows squawking
Thunder rolled in through the sparrows black wings
Blocking out the white moon and alarmed the wolves
While the roads shined with thirty silver stars
Proud in the starlight peering through the veil
As he watched fruits grow under a lamp’s light
Seeing then the yellow eyes of the wolves
Seeing then the thorn-ridden roads with his seeds
He knew his bright sun was about to set
So pronounced this confession as his sunset
“I confess that I am no wolf like all you
I confess I’m a sower of this land
I confess Mani and the lamb sent me here
I confess that I’m just a hearer of lambs
I confess I truly serve these lambs, not you”
With the penetrating winter wind blowing
His heart briefly fell from his light-filled mind
With stuttering lips, he rashly spurted out
“Lead me in the ways on being a wolf”
He lips said all this , but his mind remained still
The wolves were angry at this perceived insult
Horrified that a sheep walked with them veiled
They chose to have his legs ripped off by their teeth
And his white robes were torn off by their claws
But they were not hungry for blood at that time
So they placed the mauled sheep on a blood-stained raft
To drift far away from Malliana
Only if he told the wolves the homes of sheep
Then he would be taught the way of the wolves
And be allowed to live with them as a wolf
At the last, the new sun rose over the mauled Victorinus
Only the garden of light and rest found him with white pearls thus
Copyright © David Hyatt-Bickle | Year Posted 2023
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