One May Smile

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The shark’s reputation precedes him,
demonized in the minds of millions,
movie-goers jumping,
or hiding behind
their darkened seats.
Predators must hunt,
unsmiling and relentless,
the prey must die
so they can live;
for nature’s complexity
is for us to understand — not judge.
A greater power than Man
put this realm together.
And as a poet once said:
‘…one may smile, and smile,
and be a villain–‘
So step back,
you silver-tongued fiends,
those who think
they know better;
Your power is temporal,
so brief,
whilst the shark’s honest instinct
is ageless, only taking its due.

*Quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5, line 108.

Copyright Francis 2020

Earthweal Weekly Challenge: Shark Poetry

I Believe (for Advent)

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As the song relates
in my happy-ever-after moments:
I believed in the Israelite.

What a circuitous, tortuous route
this mind has been dragged through,
chained to the runaway horse

called magic, or deception,
along with most of the world,
sore and buffeted

through cyclone and fire,
the machinations of men.
I take on board

the doubts and conjecture —
did such and such ever exist;
yet I have studied the shroud

and the napkin of truth — to me
science and the Spirit are one.
So this year as Advent moves

relentlessly on to that crystallization,
when Sol’s southern tropic is reached,
with the death of the sun,

the incarnation of the Son
and the Word,
switching northward towards Light and hope,

I feel my soul and sinews ignite.
This time, more than any other time,
I believe in the Israelite.

Copyright Francis 2020

earthweal weekly challenge — advent