“To Tell The Truth”    

What is at the core

of the fruit I eat

or the heart of life,

the pith and germ of

speech and love?

What frames my thoughts

my pain, my truth?

It is the WORD

made flesh and bone

by mind in all its sooth.

 © 2011 Sheppard B. Kominars

“Rogues and Charlatans”

Rogues and charlatans

have compassed me about

as I walked through cataracts

I have dared explore.

But would I have had it

any other way, I ask myself?

Would I have chosen to keep

to the path, the safe path,

and pass silently into

oblivion without ever tasting

the rage, the anguish, the deceit

of those ancestors unknown,

unseen, unsung, who went

into their forgotten graves

without a trace of legacy?

Was this ever my choice

in life this time around?

Having chosen this before

I know this to be true:

whatever has come before

I know I wanted this life

to be as different as

a camel is to the needle’s eye.

Yes, this has been my choice

and I have passed through

into a wilderness holier

than the one I inhabited

in previous lifetimes.

Embracing it, I can taste

the locusts and the honey

on my lips, and I can see

the path I have walked

has brought me further into

Eden than I have ever dared

to come before. – And I am glad

to have my voice to herald it.  

[Written Oct. 13, Revised Oct. 15, 2011]

 © 2011 Sheppard B. Kominars