Subtitle

A CONFLUENCE OF DAYS, WEEKS AND YEARS

by Jonathan Vold

Saturday, May 21

Sacrifice: Seeking

      I

Eclipsing black, as if in punishment,
With a heaviness he tarries through the winter,
Eating scraps by the altar, praying unrelentingly
Loud to God in case there’s something in it.

He knows just whom to bully, whom to flatter,
He’s learned to ride the sheep and avoid the fox
And he shows he’s smart enough to get the water
But cursed to never quench his thirst with rocks.

He wears the coat of a murderer, pretending
To portend with all the ravens and jackdaws,
But there his story ends: he’s doomed to die
Unsaved for all his empty-promise prayers
And unable to impress the passersby
Who know the meaning of his meaningless caws.


      II

I look for God in every godless place
Plagues send me, sounded in retreats of prayer
To an unknown God.  I offer sacrifice

On altars built with stones of sage advice
Directed by such sheep that lead me there.
I look for God in every godless place

Of gold and silver, crafted artifice
Finely designed with dedicated care
To an unknown God.  I offer sacrifice

Wherever sheep lie down to pay the price,
Poor creatures ignorant and unaware.
I look for God in every godless place

Where emptiness reflects on every face
That peers into uncertainty, and there
To an unknown God I offer sacrifice

But carry to the altar only this
Sublime insistence: God is everywhere
I look, in every godforsaken place,
Accepting each unknowing sacrifice.

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