manyana

manyana is not in your vocabulary.
and, whenever I use this dreaded word,
I know I am closing the door between us.
once let loose, its power soon overwhelms
like knotweed.

renewal

take up thy lyre and sing, friend!
dance with me also!

but I mope in a corner
licking my wounds.

tobit

one thing about being unwell:
plenty of time to read.
in september I started at the beginning
and have now reached tobit.

tobit is an israelite in exile,
who has managed to stay faithful to the old law of moses.
raphael and amodeus
[an angel and a demon]
are an essential part of the story
(could these be 'foreign gods' of old in disguise?)

tobit's blindness is cured with a medicine
prescribed by raphael.
and the text is littered with phrases
later quoted by jesus.
['feed the hungry and clothe the naked' ]
moreover, the narrative is both detailed and compelling;
[operatic!]

there are more than glimmers here of the gospel style.
why, then, is this only part of the apocrypha?

homelessness

I have been away.
while I was away one thing possessed me:
the homelessness of God.

'the son of man has nowhere to lay his head'.

like the birds, we build nests.
and it's true: we cannot survive without shelter.
making a virtue out of necessity
we lavish them with care.
then we build places for you too
as though you were like us!
your placelessness too hard for us to bear.

our mansions, and yours,
like the doves' heap of twigs,
will be blown down by the wind.
it's only a question of time.

new year

communication.
we are certainly hardwired for it
one way or another.
but we are also easily duped.
'pretending to' is so much easier in the short term.
in the end, we are found out:
and enlightenment can be surprisingly grim.

the scientists ask how
while the philosophers concentrate on why.
both groups seeking truth through questions
building diligently upon the work of their predecessors.

but isn't the how in the why
and the why in the how?
and aren't the answers (the good ones, that is) already present in the questions?
and what can we do when we have the answers except ask some more questions?
is this a sensible way to live?

no.
asking questions can be such a bad habit
and most certainly will not lead to real knowledge.