Duty

My ancestors
By history and hymnology
Require me to subjugate
Poetry and intuition
To the calculus of legislation
A legacy of
Disembodied
Attorneys and mathematicians
Crucified in forgetfulness
While the organ roars
Victory

And so remembering
Becomes my resurrection
Lineage of slaughtered
Defendants
Calling me across centuries
Submitting now
To the
Still small voices
Of Infinity

Witness now
Listen
Let the elements
Drive me
Quiet
But unforgiving
Impatient with my
Flinching

Rising up
These are
Spirits that
Long ago
Claimed me
Deferred
Not deterred
Stirring within me

Bring them forth
For all senses
Emerging from tombs
Tending fire
Feeling wind
Walk the land
Write the vision
Make it plain
For the children
Who are longing for more

For every time
I refused
The baptism
Of your rain
Tears on my face

For every moonlit night
I failed
To drink in
Your shimmering glow

For every portal of
Transformation
I turned from
Betrayed by uncertainty

May I now
Pay homage
Debt to my debtors
Laying bare
Giving honor
Make amends

May
Remembering
Become my
Resurrection

©2016 Chris Paige. All rights reserved.

Advertisement