Babylon (final excerpts)

Haves and Have Nots/A Vision

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”           Luke 18:7-8

it’s easy to turn your back,

when you’re one of the haves;

have a job,

have a home,

have money,

have food;

have affordable health care;

believing the lies,

giving into the fears,

buying into the stereotypes;

they’re all lazy,

they’re all immoral,

they’re all looking

for a free lunch;

they all get what they

deserve;

so afraid,

they might take

something that belongs

to you,

some of your hard earned

treasure,

all the things

you sweated and slaved for,

all the idols you fall down before

and worship,

all the things you sold

your soul for;

the have-nots of the world

are beginning to rise,

they’re not going away quietly

anymore,

they’re tired of the abuse,

they’re no longer content

with the crumbs,

there are things

bigger than themselves,

things worth dying for./

The children of men hold their breath,

a final sigh before the meltdown,

a silent pause within the maelstrom,

hearts fail from fear,

meeting in secret places,

waiting for what is to come;

like a thief in the night

it sweeps them away;

trees smolder and smoke,

bursting into flames as

tires begin to steam,

their rubber melting

to the highway surface;

no where to run,

no where to hide;

like abandoned wells,

their water runs dry,

they sit withering in the sun,

wandering through the wilderness,

lost and alone;

the day is here,

the time is now;

Your mercy endures

to the end,

but who shall hear the message?

who shall accept the grace?

when the Son of Man returns

will he find faith?
____________________________________________________________________________

Possibilities

there is a silence here,

it grows like a whisper,

a quiet, controlled pause,

a small, knowing glance,

a foreign substance

speaking a language

all its own;

we have become a nation of whores,

selling our children to the highest bidder,

devouring their inheritance

for a pittance,

accepting the consequences,

with no thought for tomorrow,

trapped within the madness

of the method,

replacing character with content;

ends justifying the means;

false prophets,

in love with the sound

of their own voices,

forever searching,

but never seeing,

forever finding,

but never understanding,

unaware,

unsuspecting;

sometimes knowing the answers,

is not nearly as important,

as imagining the possibilities;

the light of a new dawn

begins to break,

I am leaving this dark place,

going to a home unknown,

what tomorrow brings

does not matter;

for You will be there

to make it right,

You will be there to wipe away

every tear.

____________________________________________________________________________

Up Here

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.                   II Timothy 3:1-5

up here, I hear your voice,

whispering through the

early morning silence,

up here I am never alone,

up here You walk with me;

comforting me,

carrying me,

guiding me,

protecting me;

down there,

You are reduced to a psychology,

a feel-good philosophy,

a self-improvement technique,

a better way of life,

blaspheming Your name,

making a mockery of Your kingdom,

denying the power;

forever looking but never seeing,

forever listening but never hearing;

You are so much more,

far beyond all that

our limited minds can comprehend,

more than anyone can fathom,

giver of life,

creator of all things;

the Great I Am,

the holy King of the universe,

the Alpha and the Omega;

Everything.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Where Now America?

where now

America?

your playgrounds and sandlots

lie empty,

as your youth grow

tired and disillusioned,

hanging out at the mall,

gathering in clumps and clusters,

wearing hundred dollar rags,

wrapped up in coolness,

struggling to be ghetto,

jaded with knowledge,

dripping with sarcasm;

nobody’s fool;

ice flowing through their veins,

filth dripping from their lips,

incapable of genuine laughter,

void of dreams,

growing old

before their time;

south jersey farm boys,

full of TV bravado and

James Dean machismo,

daddy’s good little girls,

playing MTV hoes,

busy being

trash talking lil bitch wannabes,

joking about

giving blowjobs for a dollar;

generation X,

childhood gone,

innocence lost,

forever;

where now

America?

where now?
_______________________________________________________________________________

Babylon

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” Then I heard another voice from heaven say: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’   Revelations 18:1-10

O Babylon;

land of opulence and luxury,

kingdom of self-indulgence and lust,

home of instant gratification and decadence,

you use until there is nothing left to use,

you take until there is nothing left to take,

you lie dying in the filth of your own greed,

where is your pleasure now?

O Babylon;

trampling on the backs of those who have less,

stealing from those without the resources to fight back,

killing under the guise of righteousness and the greater good,

how long can the hypocrisy  remain hidden?

how long can you pretend

the misery and suffering doesn’t exist?

how long O Babylon?

O Babylon;

surrounded by wealth and excess,

your children grow restless and bored,

turning to technology and machines,

ashamed of a legacy stained with innocent blood,

unable to reconcile the truth

in the name of liberty and justice for all.

____________________________________________________________________________

A Midday Dream

on a bright blue morning,

I saw the end,

as the city went up

in flames,

you turned to me

with panic in your eyes,

screaming “WHY?! WHY?!

I said we must not

cry,

so when it is all over,

we can face the truth

and say

we remained

human beings.

…..Be still

my tired,

beating,

savage,

heart,

your day of rest

will come

all to soon.

__________________________________________________________________________

Babylon Fallen

standing on the edge;

if you listen hard,

you can hear

the last dying gasps

of dreams gone bad,

betrayed by their lusts,

abandoned by their principles,

strangled by their self-righteousness,

drowning in their hypocrisy;

destroyed by their greed;

the children shake with fear,

burned out shells,

well-preserved corpses,

waiting to collapse

into the beckoning grave

of their man-made utopia,

trapped within the walls

of their self-made

wisdom;

Babylon fallen,

forever.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Wept (Omega)

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”   Luke 19:41-42

I do not weep for the truth,

I weep because of the truth;

I weep for the futility,

I weep for the loss,

I weep for the waste,

I weep for the hopelessness;

I weep for the children,

I weep for the tragedy,

I weep for the sorrow,

I weep for the suffering;

I weep for the inevitability;

what now

America?

Sand Creek remembers

.

.