Between Two Pillars: Judges and Gardeners

Judges and Gardeners

He glanced over his shoulder
To a whisper brought his voice
“Now don’t tell anyone I said this”
And so he introduced his foist
To ostracize a girl he’d dated
From their many circles mutual
In the echelons of higher learning
And bohemia of the art world

And these rumors grow the tumors that prune the humors of a jovial soul
Into something more submissive
Obedient to a deviant’s need for control
Or is the jovial deviant and the conspirator the norm?
Is this the depth to which we’ve fallen?
Descending from romantic forms
By their nature legions must taint her character
Free spirited, she is a threat to their manner…

And these rumors grow the tumors that prune the humors of a jovial soul
Till socially malignant
Their constringency hinders all conversing towards
While the defense and prosecution are but a one-sided coin
Spinning on the luncheon table
With the gust of privacy purloined
Like a weather cock in the gossiping tempest of tongue
The seduced verdict leaves her in most high dudgeon…



A sincerity I had to question
Though most vexing if it true
His words rode a doubtful stutter
But his eyes had passions deep imbued
As if his wounds weren’t all illusions
For true the faults weren’t all his own
Though fallacious still his conclusions
That to the grapevine he pigeons

And these rumors grow the tumors that prune the humors of a jovial soul
Till wretched are the remnants
Of the girl who took his hand as an equal
And the worst in us is all that we can summon to the stand
With our private motivations
We each select from what happened
Is there an honest soul still in this whole entangled cast?
Honest with self enough to judge the judgments passed?

(X5)
And these rumors grow the tumors that prune the humors of a jovial soul




March 5, 2006