Page 8 - Contrast1979Decemberv23n1

Advice to a YoungChristian

Lift your mitred head from
Abraham's choleric bosom; his
heart is silent as an empty church--that
antique chest never never agp.in'to
rise or fall--

Look at his corpse:
The sudden stench will punish
you for sleeping; rotted flesh slides
from your bea rd .

Rise--
His leprous hands will s tick to your startled back--
then, like a thief startled in t he ni gt1t, you
jolt upright--those hands smear
your brittled ribs--

Stand--
Break the c rusted crumbling wrappings from
about your hands and feet--
and walk--

there are no obstacles--the rock
has been pushed aside;

Ascend the stony stair;
Your joint s grind awry, and the climb

is agonizing. Avoid for now the sun.

There will come a time for
all things under the sun.
Stretch your ancient naked flesh amid
the lotus flowers, and bleed. T he
pulses that beat double pound between
your outstretched praying hands.
--Jerry Proffit