I’m in deep now,never been this deep before
The world’s hollow like a shell and I’m out its door.
In so deep, the ocean has its own startled floor.
I’m down,down.down.never been so dark , so more

I can’t rightly tell how I got where I am
I think I had an accident,fell over, then I swam.
Sometimes it’s a loss, be times it’s a man.
I guess I only do it cos I know some folk can.

I don’t know if the joy is worth the pain
Would I choose to relive if, I was born again?
The deep joy is the amazing gain.
But the sorrow is  damn sad, let’s admit it plain.

I’m in deep and it’s over my head
What was I thinking of,when I fell  out of that bed?
I look up and  the sea’s so  turquoise like  that mist   is red
When we get good and mad and wish some loon was dead.

At first, it was all just black,black pain
But from the bottom of the  well, I looked up with awed love again.
That’s when I recalled,feelings are deep and sane
Joy is much greater when we’re in the deep,deep zone.

I dunno if I’m  ever comin’ out.
We can’t control it,ain’t that what life’s all about?
I’ll never love with innocence again,nor not feel doubt.
But I’m no teapot and the devil ain’t got my spout.

I’m swimming and the ocean’s so   mysteriously bright
Down here we don’t have no day nor no night
Fish nudge me with  big grins  and teeth white
Sea flowers fondle me and whisper,turn off that light

Making sense of original sin with Reinhold Niebuhr

Extract:

Communal idolatry

For Niebuhr, sin is most clearly seen and expressed in communal idolatry.  This is the context of the epigraph that opens this post.  We see sin every day in the actions of groups, and above all nations.  I discussed communal idolatry in a previous post, so I won’t spend much time on it here.

In sin, we worship the idols of the group.  And not just extremist groups or nations.  In the midst of World War Two, Niebuhr argued that the American idealization of liberty could itself degenerate into a form of idolatry.  As Andrew Bacevich puts it in his introduction to a new edition of The Irony of American History, Niebuhr

went so far as to describe the worship of democracy as “a less vicious version of the Nazi creed.” He cautioned that “no society, not even a democratic one, is great enough or good enough to make itself the final end of human existence.” (Bacevich, p xii; Niebuhr, 1944, p 133)

The New Year is a construct like a clock
Yet we need division and a form
We need times to start and then to stop
Those who die today were once new born

The Resolutions and the Diaries  list
Whether on a phone or written down
All the things we never knew we missed
All the  faces with a smile or frown

A Wedding shall take place with black and white
The Royal blood  mixed with the blood of slaves
Who could have  foretold the marvelled sight
God for Harry, God for the betrayed

Oh,blessed is the family royal and true
Children’s blood will be both black and blue

 

 

I am not a rock upon the shore
Nor am I a pebble on the beach
I am sand, a grain and nothing more
Sucked by waves and sea in its outreach

I am small and yet I know I live
With the other people whom I love
Therefore of my being I shall give
To the One who dwells so  high above

 

I am grateful for my sight and touch
I am grateful for the gift of speech
I    live in faith and do not ask for much
So the unknown darkness  can me teach

Microscosm of all the Universe
How can I express this in a verse?