Two poems related to themes found in Christ’s parable of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). The first poem, untitled, is by St Maria Sobtskova.
I searched for singers and for prophets
who wait by the ladder to heaven,
see signs of the mysterious end,
sing songs beyond our comprehension.
And I found people who were restless, orphaned, poor,
drunk, despairing, useless,
lost whichever way they went,
homeless, naked, lacking bread.
There are no prophecies. Only life
continuously acts as a prophet.
The end approaches, days grow shorter.
You took a servant’s form. Hosanna.
(Pearl of Great Price, p. 51-52)
For St. Maria, if we seek Christ or the holy ones who follow Him, we might be surprised whom we find or in whom we find Him, the Lord God who makes Himself a servant and washes the feet of the least of His brothers and sisters.
In the second poem, “DE Way T’ings Come”, American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar writing poetically in an English dialect he sometimes used puzzles over how unlike the Good Samaritan we can be – working to feed those who are well fed and avoiding those in need.
De way t’ings happen, huhuh, chile,
Dis worl’ ‘s done puzzled me one w’ile;
I ‘s mighty skeered I ‘ll fall in doubt,
I des’ won’t try to reason out
De reason why folks strive an’ plan
A dinnah fu’ a full-fed man,
An’ shet de do’ an’ cross de street
F’om one dat raaly needs to eat.
(The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Kindle Location 5587-5591)
(For the poetically and dialectically challenged, the poem’s last lines are: I just won’t try to reason out the reason why folks strive and plan a dinner for a full-fed man, and shut the door and cross the street from one that really needs to eat.)
Fraternized 