From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
coveting: Negative Dialektik: OFFERENTIA PASTORIS
my pipe requires of me,
as a worthy (double) sacrifice
my lips
to create the sound--
ex nihilo--
that is the ground
in which lays grow;
or: to bring forth,
as if from womb,
the south, the north,
east, west, from gloom;
hence: to form things
that open wide
the mouth that sings
and truths who hide.
but, since my lips are occupied,
since they are taken by what brings
the song about, it is their doom
to leave forever all the worth
that on them singing would bestow:
only pursed my lips are found
my hands
to wield the shaft
to break the soil,
so planted aft
to summon toil;
or: to take rod
to bruise the back;
this compass odd
there inscribes lack;
hence: to work song
as circle closed,
and hands that long
as round composed.
but, since my hands are presupposed
elsewhere to be, though they be strong
for holes I fill and dams I crack,
they never will hands of a god
become (though not for lack of oil):
unjoined where those who dance have laughed
--though piping I am slave,
the song and dance I crave
in turn is bound to me:
in me what comes to be
is all I want, which is to hide
my fleshy face, to crawl inside
again the womb, and so to be
χώρα? χoρός? unknown to me
O that I were an angel!
- The scripture that inspired this poem: Alma 29:1.
