*****

Recorded Reading (2:50): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/11ynd1xhtwvbkw8nm4e8k/To-the-Acolytes.mp3?rlkey=js6n0fachkddesv8qafsdd26y&st=uk1v02ih&dl=0

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To the Acolytes: Why We Train

There will be times when you have gone
The wide, wild world into
‘Twill turn a less than holy face
On one as radiant as you

‘Twill seek to walk you through the mud
That extra, extra mile
Then go another mile again —
Whatever ‘takes to dim your smile

‘Twill count on your exhaustion
Your human frailty
‘Twill think it only obvious
And element’ry be

That if delay it long enough
Acceed to reas’nable demand,
Your hunger, thirst, and need for sleep
Will get the upper hand

That if it bear down hard and long
Upon your peace of mind
You will to its own level stoop
And become less than kind

Less always considerate
Less patiently to wait
Till their own error they perceive
And open up the gate

Which closed, and kept closed, had been
All the time before
By same self-centered guardians
Of that communal door

‘Twill think that if it threaten you
With loss itself would fear
Sufficiently, you’ll obfuscate
What had been crystal clear

Pretending every action fair
By those imagine they
A whip hand over your head hold —
That’s when you need be able say:

“Keep your food and keep your shelter
Keep whatever you desire
Whom never in this lifetime
To one true ecstasy aspire

“To one agape moment
Truly egoless
Wide open to the miracles
Which every moment bless

“It’s true I’ll suffer very much
If you see me out
Without funds or possessions,
Of that there is no doubt

“But I can confidently state
That I so deeply pity you —
My every moment’s misery
You karma vile accrue

“To be perfectly honest
~ As you’ve forgotten how to be ~
‘Twixt losing me and winning you,
I’d rather much be me

“For you won’t understand the why
Of your inner unhappiness,
But I’ll know just exactly where
That peaceful glow came from which bless

“This perhaps slender wanderer
For several too much she fast
But one with her own soul
When heaven to she goes at last!”

*****

This poet works passionately for the good of her fellowman, seven days a week.

She’s in a pretty bad fix right now ~ already homeless, and now the van she lives in has stopped running. Not a hope of fixing it without donations. One ticket is death. Real.

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