Warren Goldblatt - 2/11/1996

Prophesy

I

For one brief moment
the universe made sense
there was peace in your mind
there was a knowledge of history cowardice was unknown
bigotry was laid to rest
a chance to succeed was valid

For one brief moment
life made sense
there was an order to procurement
a condescension to internals
a fixation with nouns

For one brief moment
love was alive
bursting over the horizon
just within reach
Music flooded you
washed over you
it was you
For one brief moment

a bird sang in a willow
outside the window
outside the travel of saturation
bombarded with rainbows
colors intense
hallucinogenic haze
never before seen

For one brief moment
a fifty-four Ford
rumbled by
banged-up
weather-beaten and dismayed
It had survived
outlived its time
stared at you
It was you

For one brief moment
you turned into a mirror
of God's very existence
the price of steepness
mired in your soul
piercing the core
of atomic structure
for you are incomplete
even with the mantel of success

For one brief moment
recklessness of cretins
was shunted aside
in favor of the righteous
in favor of truth

For one brief moment
a lone voice of reason
cried out in the wilderness
struck a chord through the madness
and resonated throughout eternity
was swallowed up
by the shrill din
of the great unwashed

II

For one brief moment
you realized
there was no Beshayrt
that person doesn't exist
because
God doesn't know who you are
and most likely never will
unless you should meet
on the path
and ask him the question

For one brief moment
victory was within your grasp
then the game started

For one brief moment
the rules did not apply
could be or do anything
you were free

For one brief moment
you pondered
the true meaning of everything
that cannot be measured
or described
You came to search
your inner voice
for a clue
in a vast wasteland
without knowing
or seeing
that it isn't supposed to make sense
or have ultimate logic

For one brief moment
the voices of a thousand dead poets
rang in your brain
they flowed together
in a cacophony of perfect harmony
Voices in the dark
turned aside bellowing
the wrath and thunder
of the Gods

For one brief moment
pain tore you asunder
ripped your flesh
broiled your every bone
a million volts
shocked your body and brain
terrified you would die
in screaming agony
or
never heal

For one brief moment
you witnessed
monsters of anti-thought
lay siege to the universe
rage of the unjustly murdered
exact a terrible vengeance
whole races crushed to dust
entire species annihilated

III

For one brief moment
you witnessed
the Prince of Darkness
roam unfettered and unchecked
Saw Death come
to those not yet ready
and not to those
who eminently are
Saw the rebirth
of a new age of reason

For one brief moment
trees fell in a forest without a sound
mountains disintegrated to stone
magma spewed forth
from a hundred pimples in the crust
Oceans swallowed islands whole
and were swallowed in turn
Comets flashed across
burning the heavens brightly
Meteors blazed through the poles
as Aurora Borealis
Stars nova and die
Galaxies flared abornin'

And now
there is everything else
you haven't tried
because your short life
is but a single grain of sand
on the cosmic beach

And...
there is always
more to be said
until
the umbilical cord is cut
and you float down
the vast celestial corridor

Yet
you awoke
as if from a trance
gazed
into the eyes of the sun
transfixed
spread yourself
naked on the threshold
about to ascend
on the very last day

For
one
brief
moment
You knew ...


 
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