[Byzantine Bindings]

Tuesday 27 March 2018

Day 36 - And in the Garden Secretly

Nearing the End
Jonah
that’s the story
learnt on his mummy’s knee
recalling it in the garden
just now.


Sometimes
what seems the least significant
catches my attention
on this of all days
we’ll walk together a while
seeing how our stories weave
and wander together
on this cold windy march morning.

Seeking
looking for an explanation of why there’s something not nothing
listening to the beat of any drum
whose beat I can march to
favouring the exotic the erotic the mundane the bizarre
testing tasting dipping in and out
never staying long enough to discover the truth
till one day

as if in a dream...

Hearing the word I ran away
what else was there to do
stand and fight against the might
no
smuggle the secret in my belly and run away to sea
I wouldn’t be the first or the last
but when security is threatened people look for a scapegoat
and sure enough even the throw of dice runs against me

Even then found out
I saw a way to wriggle out
comply with them offer to be a living sacrifice
for them
death seemed preferable
a watery welcome
but they fought against it
rowing nowhere

With a wry smile
overboard I went into the cold ocean
and oblivion
came to in the slimy stench of big bellied fish
three days in this living hell
how had this come to pass
how my ordinances worked against me
time to ask the seekers question why are things the way they are

Like a bolt from the blue
like a prodigal dream
words half remembered from days in the synagogue
this poor man called and the Lord heard
in the shadow of the valley
no evil befalls the tree by the river
deliverance comes to those who pay their vows
or something like that

No escaping it then
ill tell it like it is
and wouldn’t you know they repented
seemingly I went through it for nothing
sulking I sat under a tree it gave me shelter from the heat of the sun
but even that withered and died
fairness is not measured in human quantity that’s what I learned
as I was lead from the garden to destiny.