Saul was a dynamic showman after all
Predestined, for he had been born inside a caul
At birth, he looked like a porcelain doll
An October baby, that gorgeous fall
His mama delivered him inside the mall
His father said, this babe can sure bawl!
They wrapped him up in grandma’s shawl
Eleven pounds, so not very small
They named him after his tall uncle Paul
Took his photo next to Jackson’s wall
That was six months ago, after all
Saul has moved like a truck since he learned to crawl.
The Monologue of Saul
(A lone voice whispers)
Have you ever wondered if your soul is just mirrored reflections
Fragmented shards of an augmented reality
A divine kaleidoscope of your own perceived ideas
Of what to do to get to your version of heaven, and how to avoid hell?
Overlaid onto a real-world environment
Are you too logical to ever really understand, but just bravely parading around like another human being
Locked into a social engineer's dream
Trying to live within, and under its dark magical, mesmerising spell
Hypnotized by whatever is subliminally repeated, on your handheld screens
Slowly waiting unconsciously, before it's too late for spiritual understanding
To return to just you
To truly see there's more to life than chasing paper dreams
Before you catch the last bus, to take you home to atone
In The Great In-Between
Where you'll be asked
Did you live a life clean life or did something happen, that was unforeseen
That caused you to live temporarily, unclean
(C) Copyright John Duffy
do not try to do better
repent of wrongdoing
that's more important.
Acrylic paint and dust. I can taste sunlight. Hear wind-chimes that have not been invented yet. That have already disintegrated into the deserts of the apocalypse.
I am at home in this living room. Even if i am not welcome.
St. Ambrose’s hymns are sung by children whose faces i’ll never remember.
Whose voices will weave into the river if my mind with grace and an undeniable sorrow.
Ripped dresses, burned houses, and tax audits late into the spring.
I find divinity in my shoelaces.
There is beauty not only in creation,
but also in the act of letting go.
The handed instruction was ‘Within two hours’
Purchase two arresting flowers
With an overpowering scent
For A Heart pitiably rent
And a head sorrowfully bent …
And dutifully I went,
From head to toe A Gent
But back with flowers lent,
But for the same purpose meant;
The handed money with me,
The Nice Flowers for Free!
And to my person
It was no dent
But not to Embittered Carson,
Who speedily asked for Mr. Kent
And on the same errand sent
With a warning to be not as lenient
“To build a house, not pitch a tent”
I’d proved A Reincarnation of King Saul
The Not Sensible: Only Tall.
an interlocking rubaiyat
Near Damascus, Saul's hatred met its end;
he soon discovered darkness is no friend.
God deemed young Ananias the best guy
to tell Saul of the plan He'd recommend.
"Saul will kill me," was this believer's cry.
"What could I do? I'm certain I would die."
And he was right, it's God that does the work
but fear weighs heavy, makes it hard to try.
Saul was a zealot in tradition's bind.
It's hard to see when customs leave you blind;
Saul was a Pharisee of great renown,
determined and with vengeance on his mind.
Ananias' trust made a turn-a-round;
Saul's fight took on focus when Light he found.
In time, conversion helped both comprehend
fervor survives a rocky battleground.
October 22, 2021
“And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.” I Samuel 16:23
David on the harp
Softly plucked the thing for Saul.
Soul-stinging, singing, taut catgut ringings,
For Saul
soothed the night away.
Soothed the night away.
“kada dadink strum kadunk dinkalingk”
Did the harp sweetly say,
As David
Plucked melodious strains of taut-strung strings and
For Saul
Soothed his serenaded-night,
Strumming his harp ‘till eastern zephyrs un-stilled the stilled air.
There morning’s pastel clouds foretold coming day.
There Saul in his tent-lair in the desert's wind-sculpted sand
gave ear to the lyre,
To the lays on his harp that David would play. And so
Thus David soothed Saul’s long nights,
and chased demons away.
© John T Haupt 2021
The women danced singing:
"Saul has killed his thousands
and David his tens of thousands."
(1Samuel 18:7).
Through envy and perhaps jealousy
Saul pursued David from that day onward;
Causing the Lord to be sorry that he made him
(Saul) king.
In modern times just as in the old
A gifted or talented feat
Could cause eruption in the same way.
And men do not keep their word.
How do you tell someone that being different is wrong.
Growing up thinking we are what we are but society tells us we need to reform who we are. You got sisters who painted the road to guide you when you fall. We're rebel without a cause, Rule breakers who don't look back at all.
When you're at your lowest remember that blood is behind at all cost.
Pick your high up and keep walking tall.
Some weren't made to follow as other weren't made to lead.
You'll find your place indeed, but if you don't... laugh and walk with me.
He walked along the country road
suffused with guilt...the archetype
of arrogant despair
bearing unknown void
as some monstrosity ballooning;
thus encumbered, saw the gloom
take on decay
until upon his solemn march
a grace appeared; he saw no more
and then his hands were warmed
as one who understands compassion--
suddenly may seek to let it heal.
Reality wore different dress;
allthough there was duress
that still prevailed--a wretchedness
confessed within a new holistic fire
created endings for a man
faced with a birth that centuries
beyond would celebrate.
He would see again the choice;
the restless rest exchanged,
he would attain quixotic glory
in the pain that he could own,
and thus refreshed,
would make it known
across millennia.
Hard-pressed without a doubt,
a self to find serenity
inside the passion of this
feisty little man obsessed
with lightning and with love,
the one who from the darkened path
had stumbled to a martyr's paradise
enabled by the eyes of God.
~