The Opinion
Life is precious
has died
having been shot at
and much maligned
shocked and drowned
throttled in its crib
blown up by a drone
invaded, destroyed, mocked
bulldozed, beaten, suppressed
buried, bombed, immolated
rushed to the emergency room
it was denied care
it had a previous condition
it missed a payment
it lacked the proper documentation
it made others uncomfortable
The Opinion
Life is precious
was born and raised everywhere
it sang like a little bird
held gently in your hand
marveled at, cooed over
until that day when it could walk on its own
and took those delicate steps upon this crusted earth
this dance floor, this majestic carnival
and it sang too much
and it danced too strangely
and it upset some folks
and it needed to be corrected
and put in a box
and draped with a flag
so we could coo over it again
The Opinion
Life is precious
was at a wedding
in a hospital
skipping rocks at the lake
riding a bike
drawing the sky
listening to Elvis
holding a parent's hand
reading about love
making mistakes
trying, trying to get it right
it knows that it will endure
in the smaller frames
in the quiet lives
in the drunken expositions
in affirmations in the street
its death will be its life
or so it will insist
The Opinion
Life is precious
has requested that we
keep some small portion
of its remains in an urn
some scattered by the sea
a river, a spring, a meadow
a mountain, a prairie
some on the mantle
some sparkling portion in our hearts
this is when we
fall to our knees
for it is gone
this precious life
don't string up the bandits
too clever to not be all of us
don't rail against the dark
for that is where we are born
don't start eyeing rocks for combat
or bullets, or shards of hate
we trained the young to kill the young
and that was our reward
The Opinion
Life is precious
is survived by forms and shadows
echoes, remnants, ripples
stories, music, light
spices, sand, dogs
the eulogy of the setting sun
in lieu of flowers
feel no shame in love
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The Opinuary Column appears Friday afternoons at Jesus' General.
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*Special Collectors Free Verse Edition
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I was talking to some cousins of LIFE IS PRECIOUS, namely MY LIFE IS PRECIOUS -NOT YOURS, and THE WORLD ENDS WHEN I DIE. They were both very touched, thinking that this Opinuary was all abut them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you've ever made me misty-eyed before. This is a first.
ReplyDeleteGood show.
a poetic antidote
ReplyDeletefor poison'd milk.
Thanks!
Ms. Precious
This is absolutely, disturbingly wonderful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe death of that opinion comes because of a misunderstanding of the wording. It should say "INNOCENT life is precious."
ReplyDeleteBasically, that means unborn foetuses. Sorry, you original-sinning Papists, but the unborn are innocent because they've never done a single thing to hurt anyone. (Even if they were conceived in sinful circumstances by parents who weren't united in Holy Matrimony, or spawned by people whose skins were not properly pale. There's always the hope that the products of sin will grow up to be good Christians, or that they'll be born as albinos.)
The trouble is, after they emerge onto the Earth, those lives stop being so innocent. They sinfully demand the money of oppressed taxpayers by needing medical care or thinking that they should be allowed to attend socialistic public schools. Many lives emerge in enemy countries, where they sinfully grow up to hate America and turn into suicide bombers. What's innocent about that?!? Or they commit crimes against the "right" kind of people, which means they deserve to be killed by having poison injected into their veins.
So life is still precious. But only from that innocent moment when the spermatazoAmerican meets the Americanovum until it spurts out of the unmentionable aperture. Then, from the first annoying squall and deposition of disgusting biological waste products, all preciousness is off!
While the right-to-lifers will want to crib your work (as bukko alludes), I'll suggest that the humanism you refer to is closer to Christ's teachings than most KKKristians could understand.
ReplyDeleteThank you, and good work.
A new god of poetry is born. Damn man, that was excruciatingly beautiful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOps, I thought The General wrote this. It doesn't change what I said above though, except the man after damn.
ReplyDeletesome of your best - or anybody else's - work. A job-lot of kudos should be arriving shortly MJS
ReplyDeleteMr. mjs, Sir:
ReplyDeleteIt is a thing of beauty.
Yes, it was something wonderful and thanks for clearing up the gender issue Demo
ReplyDelete