I

 

I’ve run to welcome—Absence—

To greet—a closing Door—

And hurried after Footsteps—Echoes—

Still recede before—

 

A Mountain or a Desert—

Were easier—to arrest—

Than embrace a flickering Shadow

As it vanishes—

 

To try to apprehend a Phantom

Is exhausting Toil—

Nature abhors a Vacuum—I’ll

Avoid a Void—

 

II

 

Christ may love you—I must not—

I am constrained to be

Perfect like That—without a Spot

Of sad Carnality—

 

Lepers—God enjoins—in Love—

Law—casts out—unclean—

“Vox Populi Vox Dei”

Festers with Irony—