Saturday, May 2, 2020

"Love's Pandemic Strategy"

(April 2020) 



















"LOVE'S PANDEMIC STRATEGY"

You caught us well in Bethlehem,
But did not catch what ails us.

You caught our baby-self, our childhood-self.
You caught our saying “mother”, “brother”, “friend”.
This became yours, and makes you ours, for good.
You caught us well, in flesh, in rest,
In work: our seeking, questing;

Our laughing, weeping; and our many loves
To which we may say “yes”, or “no”, or “wait”.
To our surprise you caught our grown-up life,
Without contracting our diseased
Autonomy-obsession.

Pandemic freedom shuns tough claims of love
And trust. Disharmony endangers all
Our needed bonds; with you, with others. Self,
Itself, our being, forms a trap:
A stranger we must wrestle.

Every human carries this pandemic,
And bears its wounds within our heart and mind.
Those scars on our behavior span the world.
Our planet radiates the shade
And smell of viral darkness.

You caught us without catching this disease.
Our healthy vitals worked so well with you:
So charmed, we failed to grasp your alien scheme
To carry in you what we are.
You would contract our plague like

A lover poisoned by their true love’s kiss,
Or quarry by their faithful owner shot
Right through the heart, with no love lost. You did
Lure us, so we would infect you.
But love, your love, arranged this:

You caught this, arms outstretched, upon a cross.
“X” marks the spot upon your map of love
(Love’s trysting place with death), where we played false
While you played true, and won us whole!
Our curse, your cross, connected.

We hang here, nailed together.
That's your doing, all along.
We're caught! Now, can we catch you?

(by Dennis Evans, May 2020, edited)

1 comment:

  1. I left a reply to your comment on my blog before I came over and read this poem. I think you should get your poems published. Man, I am so good at telling others what to do! I should have been a film director or sergeant in the Army! Take care of yourself, this is a very trying time. Hope you have read my lectures on wearing masks while out in public. I have prayed a lot over things and that is one thing that I feel that I have been directed to pass along. Masks 4 All!! Take care.

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