Love or Hate/ The Litany/ Of Course God Exists

[chevalierdelame]

Love or Hate
The little colored flowers that wake at dawn,
Do they love (or hate) the sun that gives them life?
Do they hate (or love) the sun that marks their hours?

The Litany
I have cried out to the world till my lips are dumb,
I have wept until my eyes are dry,
I have borne this pain till my heart is leaden.
I have bought the poison, the knife, the cord
I have felt them each and cast them away.
I have stood on metal to feel metal on flesh
I have turned away in fear and despair.
I have cursed my cowardly heart,
I have sought in a thousand ways,
I have sought to escape both life and death,
I have found it impossible.
I have pledged Death in poppy seeded wine,
I have found its taste to be bitter yet sweet
I have found Death to be an eager paramour,
I have found that the grave has room for two.

So bury me at the cross roads, if you will,
And say the earth shall be barren where I lie.
"It is not true! God's kindly earth
Is kindlier than men know,
And the red rose would but blow more red,
The white rose whiter blow."

Note: The last two lines are a quote from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde.


Of Course God Exists

Of course God exists.....
He lives when a bird greets the dawn with a song,
He lives when a flower paints a dawn on the ground.
He lives when first a child's heart beats,
He lives when the stars are born at night.
He lives in the tears that lovers shed,
He lives in the words that poets string.
He lives deep within each one of us; do you not see?

[Jack of Hearts]

It's probably ill-advised to come at le chevalier de l'âme with critiques about his overly religious inclinations in poetry. It certainly isn't pleasant to read. Maybe it would be for a certain demographic, those excited about a god or a religion, but to those who just love poems, there's not much here for us. Excessive repetition, lack of style, etc. Even still, beneath this useless top layer there seems to belie both a yearning for expression and intelligence. Here's hoping you move toward the light, toward something more inspired and expressive than the sum of these efforts. It is, however, more comprehensible than certain editions of Sir Thomas Mallory.





J

[chevalierdelame]

It's probably ill-advised to come at le chevalier de l'âme with critiques about his overly religious inclinations in poetry. It certainly isn't pleasant to read. Maybe it would be for a certain demographic, those excited about a god or a religion, but to those who just love poems, there's not much here for us. Excessive repetition, lack of style, etc. Even still, beneath this useless top layer there seems to belie both a yearning for expression and intelligence. Here's hoping you move toward the light, toward something more inspired and expressive than the sum of these efforts. It is, however, more comprehensible than certain editions of Sir Thomas Mallory.






J



Thanks for the feedback.
I'm not exactly 'excited about a god or a religion'. Only the last poem is about God, the other two are about suicide, which someone who was a religious enthusiast wouldn't be writing about, at least not in the tone I have used.
As for le chevalier de l'âme, it has nothing to do with religion. I used it because a 20th century book on Shelley called him 'a knight of the soul'. I have no illusions about being anywhere near Shelley, or ever being. I merely like the sound of it, in French. (a very trivial reason :)
Incidentally, you would remember that Shelley was expelled from Oxford for writing 'The necessity of Aetheism'. So l'âme is not the soul in Christianity or any other religion, none of which I believe in.
Thanks for reading them, particularly if it was not pleasant. :smilewinkgrin: