The Three Virtues,
that is,
The Necessity of Humility
Presumption
I thought I could choose of my own will:
Faith, hope, and love – all that I would need.
Infinity slipped into my grasp,
But where has it gone now… where?
Cornfields once sacred in golden bloom,
Bread on the table, the fragrance of home;
A father’s firm rule, a mother’s warm arm –
Where is it now – where?
Where are the eyes of that younger man,
Awe-struck, trembling, before the Great One – barefoot.
Who changed this? Who shattered it?
Where has it gone now… where?
Speak to me!
For darkness descends.
Honest or thief, they bear the same cross,
Marking nations beneath the shadowed sky.
Harsh words these are, yet true words – they cut,
But where are they now… where?
Speak to me.
The shadows rise.
Perhaps I loved life too much –
And tried to embrace its vastness, its breadth.
But my arms were wide, too wide for its bridge.
Or perhaps it was life that loved me too fiercely,
And opened her arms, then lost hold – lost hold of me.
Once, I thought I could choose for myself –
Faith, hope, and love – all that I could want.
I believed I held the hands of infinity.
Where has that gone now… where?
Perhaps this is the scar of time,
A token that I have grown old, grown wise.
No illusions now, no twilight dreams.
Perhaps it must be so…
Speak to me!
The night rises.
You – speak to me!
The dark awaits.
________
In Darkness
When a black tomorrow cries as the crow,
And the long winds of history howl like wolves,
The millstone grinds away my fleeting years,
For a pinch of grain, for a heap of chaff.
When, upon altars of human foolishness,
In shrouds of incense, truth is slain,
You, who command the mountains to dance –
Faith, hold fast to me.
When the meaning of life slips from my fingers,
And the earth rolls helpless into its abyss;
As the worn grooves of years drop deeper still,
And the ticking clock defies all mercy.
When Fortune’s wheel will not budge,
And even dreams fade into lifeless grey.
You, who shatter the chains of despair –
Hope, hold fast to me.
When hearts grow cold, like stone beneath my touch,
And neither balm nor feeling can soften them;
When I sow endless seeds that wither,
And smiles wear masks of betrayal.
When I search for lies within every tear,
And daily drink the venom I cannot escape,
You – who are the ultimate,
The infinite – Love, hold fast to me.
________
The Light
Now I know that the morning sun will rise,
And after winter’s sting, the gorse will bloom again.
It has been so, and ever shall be:
Faith, hope, and love abide – these three,
But the greatest of these is love.
I thought I encountered love before – many times,
Yet never firm, never assured.
But one damp Sunday, grey and dim,
An unexpected love found me:
The greatest love of all.
