Jack Pelham

It is not hard to disagree
With a perfectly good idea.

All my friends do it regularly!

If there is no perversion of doctrine
So morally foul
Or dangerous in its consequences
As to disqualify a human soul
From that Heavenly Jerusalem
For having believed it
Or taught it to someone else—

I could say that it’s just business
Between you and me—
That I corrected you
In good faith,
And you didn’t take it very well.

If people did not push back
Or dodge
Or ignore
Or defend
When they are corrected,
I think I would like them better.

To thank a friend but once
For an act of great kindness—
Or to celebrate to him but once
Some excellence in his virtue—
Seems as silly as the once-only
Humming of one’s favorite tune.

I have never found
So many good things to do—
And so much motivation to do them—
As when procrastinating about
Some other good thing that needs doing.

Question to self:

What all would I do—
What all could I get done—
If I were the sort
Who found no necessary task distasteful,
And enjoyed them all enthusiastically?

Wouldn’t it be ironic
If He were exceedingly brilliant,
And we were so dull—
So extraordinarily dull
And incurious
And lethargic—
As not to perceive it?

I ran across this meme yesterday, and thought I’d have some fun with all the possible interpretations I could imagine.

It is the fashion of some,
When discoursing
On matters of religion,
To wax poetic
And pompous
And profuse,
As if the facts of the matter
Were insufficient
And needed help.