When the Noise Has Scattered

When the Noise Has Scattered

(“Perhaps the Lord will see my affliction and restore goodness to me instead of Shimei’s curses today.” 2 Samuel 16:12)

When the noise has scattered,
when the sky is shattered,
when the paths that mattered now seem
unfastened from the hillside,

How do we hide our fear? How do we regroup,
(circles or pyramids) outside the doors that
once invited us in?

When the songs are deployed,
when the prayers are employed,
when the chants we enjoyed now fall
unwritten from the towers,

How do we hid our grief? How do we refine,
(ignite or liquefy) inside the walls that
now all box us in?

When fire is rewarded,
when love is reworded,
when the priests discarded the low
unwelcome from the banquets,

How do we hide our tears? How do we resolve,
(theses and discourses) above the debates
that lock us all out?

We waited the way patients do,
simply hoping for some good news.
We tasted the honey, imbibed the perfume,
we drank the new wine, dined beneath the blooms.

And still we wondered why,
despite every well-oiled presentation,
so few wandered in, and when they did,
why they never stayed long.