DEAR FERLINGHETTI II

You’ll be a century old come March 24

if you live that long,

and you do my heart great good,

specially—these days—Poetry As Insurgent Art

and I’ll be sad to see you go

if you go to hell

but glad if heaven

Yes, it’s true

I’m one a’ them

who belong to Jesus Christ

Bible and all

and like gone Allen 

a howling one

and my heart will cry if you go down

it cries now actually

‘cause then it’ll be too late

and what I’m singin’

is a lover’s quarrel with man’s fate

our land’s great poet

dissing the glory of God

O let it not be, God above!

_________

Nemesis is knocking at the door

                             –Lawrence Ferlinghetti

You think you could get away with it?

dissing the Lord Christ

all these centuries

as though He didn’t exist

and would not render every man and woman

their due

Even ol’ Patchen saw it coming

lions of fire

herald the Day

death on their tongues

nemeses these poets

to wake you

lest you die in your sleep

a generation in the Matrix

but He sends the poets

with death on their tongues

nemeses calling you out

from the city of destruction.

To the Poets Who Live in the Days Leading to Armageddon

To the Poets Who Live in the Days Leading to Armageddon

What are you all talking about?

Can you see what’s going on?

If you really are the antennae of the race

you would know the times we live in.

Can you see God?

Are you aware of the devil?

Can you see the Beast

upon which great whore Babylon rides?

Do you know the prophecies that reveal

the dynamics of the age we are in?

Do you know who the good guys are

and who the bad?

If friends come to you in fear

of the pounding catastrophes

laying waste their lives, loves,

homes, and this very land

can you guide them to a state

of peace?  Can you

enable them to die well

and not fear death?

Can you tell them what lies beyond the grave

with absolute certainty

so that even your dearest loves and your own

selves will not fear?

If you can answer in the affirmative

to all these things

you must be a seer of the Lord Christ

for He and His alone can.

If you can’t, please hang it up

for souls don’t need more jive

in times of life and death

they need poets alive

whose voices can reach into Heaven

like true priests and priestesses

able to bring God’s breath to your hearts

and give you eternal life

Poets who can endure the billowing flames

and storms that will close the apocalypse

ushering all souls to their eternal destinies

and from whose hearts and songs

issue those streams of living waters

pouring forth from the Gospel of Christ’s

great salvation – Heaven’s floodgates of mercy open

from the heart of the Saviour of the world.

Don’t know this stuff?

I would suggest you hang it up

and seek out those hunted seers who do

for even in the ol’ USA things are gonna get rough.

Loving Dylan

Loving Dylan

You’re gettin’ close to the edge, Bobbie

and I’m just one year behind you

– ol’ edge eternity and the two destinies –

an’ you’ve been silent some years

as to whom you love

but as for me and my house

we will serve the LORD

got you on my mind though

as your voice was with me

back in the ‘60s

on the road

a strength and comfort

‘cause who knew

what was sane then

we trusted you

to be true

to your heart

and your voice was a joy

a dancin’ joy

in lame and lonely times

a brother to so many

and then you got on that slow train

comin’ – comin’ home to Eden

new on New Earth after the judgment

to the Holy One of Israel

even while still walkin’ the Dark Planet

gotta love you, Bobbie

and keep you in prayer.

    *      *     *

O Bobbie

don’ know whatcha doin’ now

this half century later

you drawin’ near the howlin’ edge

an’ me too

jus’ don’ wantya ta go over

howlin’

‘cause I aim – myself – to go over singin’

leavin’ this ol’ body down here awhile

till He raises it in glory

an’ I really would like to see your face

among that eternal throng

groovin’ in such glory – unimagined here –

as to bring forth new and worthy song

to continue the adventure

started on the road

(and I followed you)

into an eternity of seeing

in His eyes the wonder

the beauty

of the endless source of life

May our Jesus shine on your path
so your eyes look up to Him
– the infinite majesty of His face –
as to catch your heart in His
never to fall away
never to fail
to the praise of the glory of His grace!

TIME'S ALMOST UP

TIME’S ALMOST UP

The time of useful consciousness

the brief time in which

some lifesaving action is possible

                     –Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Lawrence, you’re almost finished

the time allotted you

on your pilgrimage

on this the Dark Planet

besieged from without

by invisibility-cloaked

Luciferian hordes

and from within by our own

ego-driven hearts

who prefer

to take the throne

of sovereignty

than yield it

to the God of life

and selfless love

who is Himself the source

of true holiness

– that sacred glory

we may have glimpsed

in high moments –

Yes, I know

He has those who claim to be

“his buddies on earth”

but belie this honor

by their antics

– forget them

they have nothing to do

with this

your own hour

of need – 

for the dark lord

eagerly desires

your soul

and awaits your arrival

in his realm

– you

who lifted your voice

to the world

in the name of the sacred

humanity

– you

who defied and despised

the dark powers

that engulfed

and overpowered

the sacred subjective

hearts of women and men

and little children

with juggernaut machines

and violence –

and now he would

make a spectacle

of you

the singer of humanity

and despoil you

before all the rest

of his captive humans

those who refused

the command of righteousness

and offer of mercy

and forgiveness

by his great Enemy

Jesus Christ

God the Son

forget His so-called

foolish “buddies”

it is the Saviour of the world

with whom

you now have to do

who says to you

*   *   *

Come to Me

all you who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest

him that comes to Me

I will in no wise cast out

I am the way

the truth

and the life –

no man comes unto the Father

but by Me

who gave My life

on the cross

a ransom for sinners

to make payment

for their sin

who rose from the dead

– I am the resurrection –

and now give them the gift

of My own righteousness

as they abide in the shelter

of My heart

if you believe not

that I am He

you shall die in your sins

they that are whole have no need

of the physician

but they that are sick 

– I came not to call the righteous

but sinners to repentance

for I came not to condemn the world

but that the world through Me

might be saved

*   *   *

Lawrence, many would love to see

your face

on the new earth and heaven

wherein dwells righteousness

and is no death or pain

but the Eternal

Himself

dwells in our midst

surpassing the wonder

and glory

of all old earth’s

myths

His presence

His love

our souls’ chief treasure

Come!

Rejoice with us

world without end.

                  5/19/13