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| The Serpent in the Wilderness by Edward Knippers 2007, oil on panel, 32" x 24" |
and the spirit unwilling
as gradually the soul
all lethal loves is killing,
a miniature of my life’s full bent,
this forty days of fast,
this monstrous Lent!
Temptations prying
and pretentious praying
attacking and adorning
the ceremonious slaying,
and images and idols risen
or deeply sunk,
ground up and mixed with blood
or water, and drunk,
and desert,
unremitting sunlight under
dark cloud (somehow above!)
and thunder pounding,
pounding hammerlike and loud
on door and wall
and window of the proud,
and pagan shower
of wishful floral fêtes,
ideals, presumptions,
vanities, and bets,
illusions, boasts,
illogic, lies, and ghosts,
all headlong fall
before the heavenly hosts.
