'Praying for eternal life?'

'Praying for eternal life?'             timothy r gates, 1/10/2014

at four,
didn't want to die and go to hell.
note:
a four year didn't want to go to hell.
No one thought to ask,
to a four year old,
"Why do you want to die?"
Praying for eternal life,
the ultimate narcissistic lust.
Resigning hope for hell,
inverted narcissism.
i've seen hell
i've beheld heaven
known brimstone at the end of,
"This hurts me more than you."
known the Sun's kiss,
Grandpa making you feel safe.
Forgive? Yes, heaven shared.
Forget? No, hell need not be passed.
"Never forget!" Infamous words,
people surviving The Holocaust remind us,
love's story need to be hell's reprise.
at four or a hundred and four,
eternal life matters not --
it's only known today.
neither do i desire, but i do remember
a four year old wanting heaven, not hell,
today.

'Blessing of the water'

'Blessing of the water'              timothy r gates, 1/6/2014




Out of water,
the primordial bath,
Ish rested as red dirt
a voice who had spoken into the void,
"Let there be light,"
now breathes into life -- life.
Isha knew this story well.
Lilith, a parentheses,
she-demon, or feminist proto-genesis,
she has her song.
Water covered the Earth
Water gives infants birth
Water is our body
Water baptizes us
Water baptizes
Water spreads the Red Sea
Water spreads Jordan's stream
Water falls upon the Earth
Water rises, giving neo-genesis
Water kills
Water hears a Dove's hymn.
Myths, legends, stories of peoples --
in our Blessed Repose we die,
returning to our red dust,
mixed with the earth's water.
As mud we give life,
holding hands with primordial ooze,
a living soul.
Buddhists bless this life-giver
Hindus too
Jews and Muslims know the Tigris–Euphrates
Yeshua knew Jordan and Galilee.
Out to dry land, or a wet grave --
the water is blessed,
blesses,
intoning,
God grant you many years
or, the chant of the reposed,
Memory Eternal.