(extensively revised from an original written on Friday, August 4, 2006)
To the godliest of somebodies
the want of idle nobodies
results from what once was called
the sin of sloth by medieval churchmen.
The modern sunday somebodies
pronounce the favor of their gods
on those who get busyness and lucre.
We nobodies, Emily, are somebodies’ fools!
What gain in time spent listening?
What good hearing cathedral tunes
in panefuls of slanting light?
What gain in time spent watching?
What good seeing luminous humming
in floors of flattened stone?
What gain in time spent touching?
What good feeling comforting warmth
in shafts of solar light penetrating a dark walled-in air?
What gain in time spent smelling?
What good scenting colorful cells
conceiving origins from gray matter?
And what gain in time spent tasting?
What good savoring the fruit of loops
defying the minding of straight lines?
What foolishness to be nobodies, Emily!
return to poetic stuff