Saturday, January 30, 2010

Apocalypse


I hope now to stir your minds to remember
Things others have taught you
I am merely repeating
That which you were mocked for believing
“What sort of light is cast from devouring hope?”
Not in this dissipated world
But a vision more substantial

Consider the light then given from life
Ever present, now made immanent
Ended in their polluted water
But clean water still carries the life it always did
Filth must forget to survive
Remembering makes for fresh rain
Or better, fire

Everyone is hung up about waiting
But time is an easy thing to waste
There is no time for evil
All the time in the world for good
This is not because what you do does not matter
But because it does
Only death should die!

There is a fire we have not yet known
But will sooner than dawn breaks from night
We call it vengeance in our ignorance
But the maiden knew no hate
Rather burned brightly
The sun still envies the mercy seat
Stepping before us on to the new day

So, be quickened and run
Chase the stars across their crystal spheres
Refresh your brother
Carry your sister
In all things give thanks to your father
Know your neighbor
Open your mouth in faith and love

Spotless, blameless, peaceful even in suffering
Just as with him we can be
Even if it is hard to understand
But you need not twist
Or be crushed by weight beyond your strength
Even a strong man knows to use a lever
So a cross is given to move the world

Keep the memory close at hand
How they were lost to their own trickery
Their hearts slept the watch
What fools the wise who know not the hour
The far country has been brought near
This land stands conquered
And will end before our labors are done

The doors of the house
Built from the wood of the fig tree
They will not stand the four winds
Nor will the clouds of glory be kept out
Great the thunder, mighty the quake
Mountains cast into churning seas
The unapproachable approaches!

Please, lest this be counted for evil
And time be lost for me to speak
Do not settle for your delusions
Refuse the devils at the window
Admit the disease receive the cure
The great physician does not disappoint
And you may yet know what you were made for

— David Dickens, Nothing Hypothetical

Of all David's poems, this has to be one of the best. I invite you to visit his blog at the link after his name. What Walt Whitman said of his own poetry, I can confidently say of David Dickens'…

Shut not your doors to me proud libraries,
For that which was lacking on all your well-fill’d shelves,
yet needed most, I bring,
Forth from the war emerging, a book I have made,
The words of my book nothing, the drift of it every thing,
A book separate, not link’d with the rest
nor felt by the intellect,
But you ye untold latencies will thrill to every page.

— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Book I - Inscriptions, Shut not your doors

2 comments:

pilgrim said...

Axios! to this:

"Even a strong man knows to use a lever
So a cross is given to move the world"

I love this part:

"Great the thunder, mighty the quake
Mountains cast into churning seas
The unapproachable approaches!"

Amin! Thanks Brother David

Ρωμανός ~ Romanós said...

Yeah, Brock, the first lines you quoted were my absolute favorites in this great poem.

And the other verses you quoted reminded me of Psalm 46 and also of the hymns of the Theophany service, where Christ comes to be baptised... "The unapproachable approaches!"

Axios kai eti axios!