speed, speeding, sped

Pedal to the floor,
driving fast as hell,
sometimes the only chances
are the ones you take.
Lost highways, American horizons,
road maps used for beer spills,
the feeling of a gun
pointed at my head.

Those were
the old days,
the road days.

Now I'm middle-aged,
settled, pacific.

Not sure what's coming next
but I hope you're there
to see it.

naked stars

In the
Voyage of the Dawn Treader,
there's a great scene where
a boy repents his Wicked ways
and embraces the Good life.

His wickedness is in fact so wicked
that it changed him into a dragon,
not that bad a fate until you realize
that in the West, unlike the East,
men kill dragons for sport and treasure.

Well, in any case, the boy repented
and his scales began to fall off.
Aslan helped, his big furry paws
peeling off the scales to reveal
the human underneath.

It's a beautiful scene,
noble lion and naked boy
beneath the Christian stars.

**

(postscript)

"And immediately there fell from his eyes
as it had been scales:
and he received sight
forthwith, and arose,
and was baptized."

Acts 9:18
King James Edition

way of the samurai

Note posted on the 'fridge
this morning:
need party food.

But the messiah hasn't arrived
yet.

Underneath the kitchen chair,
the kitten sleeps,
curled up on her blanket.
Her whiskers twitch.

She knows.

exile and the kingdom

No confessions were offered up today
in the church of the Ascension.
No prayers were heard.
No hosannas were sung, no wafers
were consumed, and no wine was spilled
on the cassocks of the altar boys.

Instead everyone gathered
in the plazas and the markets
where the news spread
like evangelical fire.
Merchants closed their shops
and all along the watchtower
soldiers kept a steady vigil.

God's voice spoke in dreams
to pilgrims on their way
to Santiago de Compostela,
final resting place
of Saint James the apostle.

Riders were approaching
from the south.