Our globe no longer Greeks at war,
the pantheon in civil strife,
gladiators, nether world,
infighting, incest, family
affairs outrageous as can be,
pen names, aka attributes,
fame transposed like Latin tags.
Were they embodiments of fears,
myths of human character,
where failings filed in literature?
That’s so in lore, incarnate claimed,
for care in genre type required;
myth, propaganda, parable,
for who wrote supposed history –
as winner takes all, quill controlled?
But testimony, best of all,
shows open arms in welcome all,
and as we ballot, placing cross,
does selfless love demand a price,
an earthly contest, pilgrim road?
On course, that’s not the way declared,
of course, as flag nailed to the mast,
such faithless folly fixed things there,
and justified, religious wise –
though godly wisdom raised again,
if that’s where votive mark is placed.
What irony in daily news,
grace claimants those who light the fuse,
while God best seen in damaged child.
Stephen Kingsnorth (Cambridge M.A., English & Religious Studies), retired to Wales from ministry in the Methodist Church with Parkinson’s Disease, has had pieces published by on-line poetry sites, printed journals and anthologies, most recently The Parliament Literary Magazine, Ariel Chart International Literary Journal, Poetry Potion, Grand Little Things, The Poet Magazine. https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/