The Shroud

By Andrew Di Prinzio - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - 18 August 2014

 

 

Where are the metaphors?

I need more metaphors to figure out the cosmos

and to understand some deep seeded spirituality

that all exists for a reason.

 

I need the metaphors, like when Christ

left his grave and his shroud behind

like I must leave behind my doubts.

 

My father had doubts too though

but he kept them close to his ribs

and they coated them like BBQ sauce

sizzling as drops fall through the cracks

of the hot grill.

 

Maybe that's why he couldn't do anything

but make money and spend money

and give me money and love money

because the Buddha stopped eating

for seven years and almost died

then realized that wasn't the way.

Yes! Another metaphor -- and bonus points --

it's religions.

 

I need the metaphors to explain

How when a whore was handed to her mother

a nurse said this baby can change the world

and then somehow that tiny seed

became a rotten tree.

 

Tell me please that there is a piece of God

inside all of us and that our light

connects us, that true love

is as powerful as two stars colliding,

and that crossing the desert is

required for making a man

a man.