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Vita Brevis
..
Religion and Culture for the Intellectually Impatient
Things You Don’t Know about Me and You
by rjosephhoffmann
When I play piano
children sing
like magpies
so loudly
I lose my place
I think the ukulele
is a real instrument
to be treated like a violin
and not like
the kazoo you found
in your father’s
handkerchief drawer
and I was a tenor
and high F# was
my last strong note
before dissolving
into a spastic
tremulous shriek.
and as dog persons go
I am a cat person
though of course
I know dogs
have hearts
of molten gold
and cats silver brains
that tell them to walk
across the piano keys
ruining everything
to get their head
under a moving hand.
and yes,
I like both Gregorian and
Mozarbic chants
because
they are two kinds
of passion
one is like
my passion
because it flows
evenly and solemnly
but at its worst
sounds like
the endless tapping of keys
on an old typewriter
but when sung right
say by Solemnes
at first vespers
like the voice
Augustine heard
the one that said
Lift me and read me!
I am familiar, familiar
like the dull hum
of the swirling fan
you have learned
to ignore, familiar.
But you are Africa,
you are Spain and Babylon
and the Tigris running
incense burning to
slice the hot days into
vapours of dizzy grace
the taste of ginger
coffee, cardamom,
crushed eucalyptus
for my dull dull soul
a voice lost between
weeping and rejoicing,
like the tears of sacrifice,
when Abraham thought
he heard God’s voice
say Stop,
like young lambs in spring
a sound of tentative praise
when you walked into my room
and looked into my eyes
and everyone
became a stranger.
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Published: July 16, 2013
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Vita Brevis
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Religion and Culture for the Intellectually Impatient
The Gates
by rjosephhoffmann
??????
Knowing that you are my first love
But not my only passion
Have thanks for giving
In a single moment the refreshment
Of a journey’s end, at Mecca or
Jerusalem, the cool water that
Staunches a man’s desire.
Knowing that you are my last passion,
My only love, I have praise
For your eyes and lips and for
The parts of you that move sensually
In my imagination, like the
Girls of Lahore on sweet July evenings
With the smell of jasmine in their hair
And breath tinted with ripe mango.
Knowing that love and passion
Flow together, I have songs
That flow from Allah who took
Dry earth from the desert
and purest water
From the springs near Jericho
And shaped you as a wish, ?????
A living soul seeking paradise
Through the gates of love and passion.
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Published: July 19, 2013
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