Taken In Faith: Poems

Error Pursued

Error Pursued I Guilt unavowed is guilt in its extreme. It still accumulates with strict regard For time and act, although you cannot name The creditor you owe. And your supreme Defiance stirs rough gestures that have marred Your art beyond repair or graceful shame. Arrogance is a pose disclosing fear Of law, whose constancy will let you die. Nor mind nor body is your own to bend In final alteration; even here, Where the offending will would still deny Dependence, know denial too must end.  You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. II Satan in Eden was “constrain’d Into a beast.” All of the proud, like him, are pained, And you not least, To wear the flesh of which we all are made. It was a means for him and Christ. Shrewder than we, Each knew for what he sacrificed. Carnality Destroys when not accepted and allayed. It is the gift of punishment That you refuse. You say you sin without consent And thus excuse Self-pity and self-hate—and your despair. For self is faithless to its end. Not wife or child Will fail as badly, nor has friend As soon beguiled. It is your way, and you are most aware.  You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...