Jack Pelham

He’ll not understand the end
If he has not given himself over
To the beginning.

I’m as practical and pragmatic as the next guy, so when something’s gone wrong, I can often find a suitable workaround. I can even make do with said workout for some time, if need be.

He decides to tell himself what he is like,
And then to believe it.

And he thinks this settles the matter—
As if he could not possibly be wrong.

But he could.

*I chose the image simply because it’s a man looking into the mirror. It just happens to be a depiction of Socrates, however, which fact I didn’t put in its caption for fear of it having any sway over how this piece might be read. The work is listed as: Socrates Looking in a Mirror, print, Bernard Vaillant, after Jusepe de Ribera (called Lo Spagnoletto)

Atop his body sits a box so important
That he takes it with him wherever he goes.

If you want to hide a treasure
Where few are likely to find it,
Hide it behind the work
That few are likely to do.

The help of competent friends is a blessing
That those without it can hardly imagine.

It is a common perversion of humans
That they should hate one injustice,
But not another.

People are just too afraid
Of truth
Of growing
Of interacting
Of being wrong
Of learning anything
And of making any changes.
They are much more comfortable
Half the time having their eyes shut than opened.

People talk of giving their all
As if they really know
How to do that.

So God puts man here in this world first
Because man is not born ready for that second world,
And must have time to learn God’s ways
And to wrestle with his own will—
Should he be the sort to will that.

And so much of it seems to come down
To how the man is willing to see himself,
And whether he will let the truth of a matter
Be the truth—
Or whether he will twist it into something else.

And from there, if and when he ever notices
That his own will differs from God’s,
It comes down to who he really thinks is the boss—
It comes down to whether he will yield himself.

And who among us has the will
To wrestle with his own will,
To make it into what it is not
But should be, according to God?

Many a religion has been fabricated
In order to help men pretend
That they can be right with God
While still defiant in their wills.

Such are cities of Cain—ever empty,
Even when filled with people—
Stout fortresses on this Earth,
Yet fully exposed to the very Heaven
That they assume is their friend.