None HIgher

None Higher

(“’It’s what comes out of a person that contaminates someone in God’s sight,’ Jesus said.” Mark 7:20)

They built the platform taller,
it was the tallest,
none higher;
they built the platform so high
the speaker could see far beyond the
gazing spectators who got their news from each other,
their religion from helium,
and their opinions from thought balloons
posted out of context and stable as yesterday’s air.

They played the music louder,
it was the loudest,
none shriller;
they played the music so shrill
the people knew to hail the chief and
sing along with the bouncing ball, enthralled by the
words strung like confetti bracelets,
insults hurled like bolo necklaces
from school-yard bullies as unstable as preteen romances.

We would have sworn on the Bible,
the Bible, and only the Bible,
that this was a fine day,
it was the finest;
none brighter.
We would have sworn on his words
like we quote Jesus,
like we quote Jesus who founded America,
who founded it better than the founders who found
it best; until now.

We should have slowed our walk, reversed our gait,
rethought our rapture and revived our first love
who loved wayfarers more than walls
and lived among the tenements not towers.

He walked the road slower, though the crowd was louder,
the cross was heavier, and the tears earthier; he walked
death to life while the
platform-builders went about their business.