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Writer's picturePaul D. Wilke

Quietism


Avond (Evening): The Red Tree by Piet Mondrian - 1908-1910

 

They say

History will judge

that accounts will be settled

and debts paid

in tomorrow's land

of eternal sunshine

in that parched desert kingdom

of Everafter

where the sun always shines

YES, THERE!

History will judge

and the ravenous ghosts

and restless spirits

of crimes long forgotten

will finally rest in peace

and find consolation

after the reckoning for

all the violence

and hate

and theft

and corruption

and cheating

and lynching

and oppression

and rape

and murder

and genocide

YES!

then we can rest easy knowing

History will judge

and that will be enough

that's all it will take

to calm those

ravenous ghosts

and restless spirits

and my conscience too

so say a prayer

for the future

and have no fear that

someday

things will be set right

since there is

no better slayer of monster bones

then this new smuggled-in God

same as

the old God

so let us float

on clouds of blind faith

and meekly embrace

the silence of now

and justice for later when

History will judge

but not today

it ain't happening today

or this week

or this year

or in this life

though never fear that

it will happen

someday

but until then

tyrants will die in their sleep

as murderers in the shadows creep

yet I feel fine

and

so

do

you.

 



-----

PDW

Paris France

November 2021

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