P O E T I C S

The Poetry of Michael Langston


(64) TO THE PSEUDO-CHRISTIANS

 You are like a prospector who, searching
long  and hard, finds what he believes is
a  priceless gold nugget. But what he has
found, upon closer examination, turns out
not  to be  gold at  all, but  is instead
fool's gold.

 2  You are  as a  man who,  dissatisfied
with  what he owns, sells all his worldly
goods  for what he believes is a handsome
price.  But  only later,  when it is then
too late, does he discover that the money
he has received is not genuine, but is in
fact counterfeit.

 3  You  are like  a traveler who, on his
way  to  the Celestial  City, looks for a
place  to rest from his journey and stops
for  the night at a wayside inn. But when
he  is  there,  he  is  deceived  by  the
innkeeper  into  believing  that  he  has
reached  his destination.  And preferring
the comfort of the inn to the hardship of
the  journey, he  thus does  not continue
that  journey, and  so never  reaches the
Celestial City.

 4 You are as a woman who, without having
access   to   any  firsthand   knowledge,
receives  all  her information at the end
of  a  long  line  of  gossip.  But  that
information,  in  passing from one person
to  another,  so becomes  distorted.  And
upon  reaching the  end  such person,  it
thus is without its original truth.

 5  You  are as  a child who, standing at
the   window,  perceives  a  tiny  insect
crawling  across the  face of  the glass.
But  watching it  intently  and with  his
eyes  focused sharply  upon  it, he  thus
does  not  see  what  lies  outside  that
window.

 6  You are as a man who, sitting down to
dinner,  is served  what he  thinks is  a
wholesome and savory stew. But along with
the  potatoes and carrots and gravy, what
looks  like the beef isn't really beef at
all, but is in reality horse manure.

 7  You are like an old man who, after an
attack  of  appendicitis, is  straightway
taken to the nearest hospital. But rather
than surgery to take out the appendix, he
is given a drug to take away the pain.

 8  You are  as a  man holding  a red-hot
poker  in  one hand and taking an aspirin
with the other.

 9  You are as sheep mistaking a WOLF for
the shepherd.


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