In twilight, or: Bewildered

Posted on by ben Alexander

Poetry Partners #146

‘In twilight, Dawn?’, a poem by Rayla of ‘Innerdialects’

Yeah 'm tired
show me how to switch off the stars shut down a moon - slipping in my shutters;
why d'you hunt me midnight Sun; who'm I to Your maddening pursuit of human aloneness:

this morning I woke to You in the windows of my grey. The skies pulled back their drapes; I wept for need to just be; why

why d'You keep asking me songs I cannot sing, and poems I forgot, for trips undone, and paths untouched, why remind me of letters not sent, of stories not begun;

what's Your hand editing in Time's dust & ashes; by what pitch d'You make Sheoul return the Object of Your Deliverance
That's the Plan, I know I know:
Love's plot - blood sacrificed to get the hell out of man;

would it be much to let tides take these sands that tried enough to stay;
may I pray this one prayer, Abba
an odd Tehfillah - burdening Your Presence (the dark itself will acknowledge, eh):

am requesting an Asking:

why d'You pursue me in love; why d'You pursue me in Love?

A poem by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

EPIGRAPH:

The Edge of Light is held by Darkness. Evil itself tells me there is God.

–Rayla
Raw? Pardon my French, please,
because only humans can.

I try so hard
So hard to avoid these pointless, 
Painful
Painful #$@!% conversations
Because life only has the point
We imbue it with. Why 
Ruin the remaining hours? Why 
Ruin someone's day? Why 
Ruin my own?

Let's take a walk,
Shall we, into history? 

All Saints' Day
1755, Lisbon, Portugal. The locals
Were profoundly religious. 
[9:40] The first buildings collapsed; three 
Major shakes followed; most 
People were killed 
By the collapse of the churches, 
Full of believers attending mass.

All Saints' Day 
1755, Lisbon, Portugal. 
[10:10] A tsunami-wave swept away thousands. 
Then 
A terrible 
Fire raged for five days, 
Destroying what was left.

All Saints' Day
1755, Lisbon, Portugal. 
Three quarters of the city in ruins. 
At least 30,000 Christian 
Citizens of the city killed in church.

All Saints' Day
1755, Lisbon, Portugal. The earthquake 
Struck on a major religious 
Feast and destroyed almost every 
Church in a devoted 
Catholic city. Religious authorities 
Declared 
It Divine punishment; but why
Why would the disaster 
Destroy churches, rather than brothels? 

Voltaire wrote:
      Are you then sure, the power which would create
      The universe and fix the laws of fate,
      Could not have found for man a proper place,
      But earthquakes must destroy the human race?

So, I must Ask, then, of Believers:
Was God pursuing 
Those tens of thousands of Christians with love?

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

List of Poetry Partners

33 thoughts on “In twilight, or: Bewildered”

  2. Why?! Why did WP not put this in my reader until today?? Bad things happen to good people all the time and of course the inverse as well with good things happening to bad people… The more I know the less I understand. But it isn’t with my head but with my heart that leads me to belief. I have questions. I don’t have answers. All will be revealed to me once I pass through death’s door. Kind of a stinky way to find the truth….

  3. I have seen something else under the sun:
    The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong,
    nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant
    or favour to the learned;
    but time and chance happen to them all. Ecc9:11

      2. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but there’s an interesting dvd I watch every Christmas that has to do with the stars and the Bible. It’s called “The Star of Bethelehem” by Rick Larson. He compares biblical references to what happened in the sky on any given date in a computer program.

      1. Thanks, Rayla ❤

        BTW, please feel free to call me ‘David’ ~ that’s my first name. The word ‘ben’ simply means ‘son of’ in Hebrew!

        Take good care,
        David

  8. Wow guys! Deep; heavy and profound stuff! A lot of food for thought here! 🤔🤔❤️❤️👏👏

    Rayla, I loved these lines from you in particular:
    “why d’You keep asking me songs I cannot sing, and poems I forgot, for trips undone, and paths untouched, why remind me of letters not sent, of stories not begun;”

    David, you asked some burning; tough questions in your response too: “Why would the disaster
    Destroy churches, rather than brothels?
    ”
    So, I must Ask, then, of Believers:
    Was God pursuing
    Those tens of thousands of Christians with love?”
    It’s the age old question, isn’t it?! Why would a God of supposed love allow such tragedy and death to take place??

    1. 💖 Ken 💖 ~ for me, the gargantuan scale and religious context of this particular disaster really drives the point home… Either God couldn’t have prevented this, or He didn’t want to, or…. Well, then there’s my version, as you know.

  10. both pieces are astounding!
    damn these customers
    kept interrupting my reading!
    why! why!
    now is not the time!

    😆😆 got carried away. bravo to you both.

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