LET US FORGIVE...

FOR JOHN AND TOM [and now for Piggo]
12 December 96

The truth is more complex than what we utter;
Her dancing offers glimpses through the veils.
Our leaden tongues attempt to tell, and mutter
Some partial truths that then resemble tales.
Our ways of looking backward frame our choices
Of ways to bring those glimpses to the light,
And set the tone that helps distort our voices:
We never seem to get it really right.
Our lives are all change, turmoil, and confusions;
In acts, our good with evil intertwines.
We strive to reach some judgement, some conclusions,
But mostly just make idols of our minds.
We’re not as black [or white] as we are painted;
Let us forgive and so become acquainted.


A VERY LONG WAY TO SAY THREE WORDS
28 June 00

The slave of duty sits at home, receiving;
His friends are few, but drift in one by one
And share their lives of witness and believing:
No simple task, no easy race to run.
Know what you are, but never stop at knowing

Your kind, for you are more than what you’ve been;
Our kind is what we’re called to leave, and going
Up toward the light makes clear what we have seen.

The difficult, the all-important issue
Has more to do with WHO we’re called to be,
Or rather: what, of all this wind and tissue,
May promise to bear fruit for all to see.
A chance to meet and speak may mean confessing;
Some risk, it’s true, but what abundant blessing!