A:
Cool
Calm
Collected
Walk with perfect posture,
Personality put out to pasture:
Upright, uptight – aligned
In perfect symmetry with
The vertical ruler that is
Necktie, but really Cravat:
Blood flow stalled, passion
Stifled, life suppressed, re-
Pressed, vitality oppressed,
Soul hard-pressed
To find
Shoes tasseled (never tussled)
Business hustled (never hassled)
Mind sharp as the pleats down the front of his trousers;
Words smooth like the starched Egyptian cotton of his cuffs;
Opinions triangulated and pointed, imitating his tabbed collars.
Not a hair misplaced atop his head;
Nor an idea misplaced in it.
Asks the dumbwaiter:
Would you like to order?
Oh, but he already is.
Still, all around winds howl and
A tempest is all the rage: screams
Pierce the quiet night like a high-
Caliber bullet meets soft flesh:
Fluid upon initial contact, jagged
On second glance, ripping straight
Through the heart and unsettling
There, lodging more than just a
Complaint
A plague it is called, infectiously
Creeping along an immune system
That has long lost all its immunity
(Immorality tends to do that).
Plagued by a world that disguises its maker,
Plagued by a body that shrouds its soul,
Plagued by actions that hide its purpose –
A plague isn’t (only) something biblical:
A plague is a raging fire in a city made of
Dry straw –
And when things burn
Cool
Calm
Collected
Just ain’t gonna cut it
Zeal:
When he zealously avenged Me
A world on fire: flames of falseness
Spewing a very real heat and no warmth.
Children blister to ash; sackcloth today’s
School uniform.
A world on fire – and the establishment has the
Nerve to create a committee on fire, the OCPFQ
(Organization of Committees Pro Fire Quenching)
With initials and everything licensed by the CLOCI
(Committee for Licensing Official Organization Initials)
And a non-for-profit to boot, with board members driven
In chauffeured stretches, a rather long stretch of the account
Book and imagination to associate with a profitless dot.org
Bodies are burning – all that’s needed are some souls to burn back:
Zealots they are called, fanatics – simpletons fanatically dedicated
To doing good, men and women zealously driven to helping others,
Vim & Vigor:
More verve than nerve,
Fervor for a favor
Vivacious
I give him My covenant of peace
But how to know when fanaticism is legit
And not just, well, fanatical?
How to know when the zeal comes of peace?
It was after the plague
There are those who call themselves zealots, fanatics,
Bacteria that perpetuate plagues, sickness and evil, preaching
Death and hate because who can carve god into their
Own image and likeness any better than a false mystic?
Let us call these: Fanatics of Hate
Then there are fanatics, zealots, men who cause plagues to end,
People who search inside their souls and find the purity of the
Situation and will attack any falseness with a vengeance
Let us call these: Fanatics of Love
From A to Z:
Truth permeates throughout,
Not (just) when we want to be
Zealous (then it’s easy), but (even)
When we don’t want to, when it’s
Uncomfortable to stand for what is
True and Divine.
From A to Zeal:
A plaguing situation?
Zeal it with a kiss.
Mendel Jacobson is a writer, poet and journalist living in Brooklyn. His weekly poetry can be seen at jakeyology.blogspot.com
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.