Friday, February 24, 2012

identification please

Harvey S. Mozolak

who am I
kneeling among the shards of fallen cliff facades
at upheavals of crevices attempting the overthrow
of the earth a sand of battle boulders and mounds
of the ground dead
I who created am churning hungry
the temptation if not home with the Father
is to eat bread broken with companions
of this bleak earth but I am alone
each unsaid word a slice
by which to tongue-tie God
but by

who am I
balanced between heaven’s holiness unhinged
receiving the thick smoke of sacrifice
in the scent song of praise
and a child presented redeemed with fluttering doves
then circumcised and waist deep in the waste
John condemns as filth in the Jordan
here at the pinnacle of ancient promise
that blesses faith unfurled a battered banner
for the kiss of righteousness and peace 
held not in the arms of ascending angels
but by God passing the test
by failure to fly away

who am I
clinging like an mountain climber
beyond the oxygen of life into the delirium
high-filled with lies and dreams
dripping of draped splendor
one could be heroic even in their sense
Homeric Hectored Odysseus to Zeus
a Caesar or a Solomonic David
in but a bow to exaggeration
and the careful overstatement of a truth
but I am the Bethlehemic baby
diapered with their doom
whom am I but their own
to say “away with” and to crush
to submit subject and conquer
serve as strange slave

this you will worship only
therefore with angels and archangels
and all the heavenly host

around the cup that will not pass away
in the body that ministers
great mercy known
in the emptiness of God


No comments:

Post a Comment