Psalms of Gratitude and Prayer. John J. Brugaletta
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May we all serve at your table, meekly waiting
for your eye, your hand to lift us, your lip to sup.
The Comics Page
Their week is black and white, as if they slid
back every Monday to that wintry scene
before a technicolor screen had bloomed.
They’re cabined also in a meager space,
obeying rules against more room or joy.
But then on Sunday all their lives are changed.
The lawns and Blondie’s dress are green as hope;
the sky above Prince Valiant is pure blue.
Page after page is spread and packed with hues
like flower beds in spring, or bowls of eggs
dyed pink or mauve, yellow or chartreuse
to celebrate the new red blood of life.
Tract for Houseguests at the Emperor’s Estate
Remember always that you do not own the house.
If this fact causes you to be less careful
with its structure or its contents,
you will not be looked upon favorably.
While you may at decent intervals suggest wiser behavior
on the part of other guests, it is not your role to expel them.
The Emperor has better ways of doing so than you do.
When you are first seated at table,
your manners will be crude and offensive to other guests,
as well as to His Majesty.
This should not throw you into despair,
but it should shame you enough to learn better behavior.
Among other things,
this means never taking food from your neighbor’s plate,
or drinking from her cup,
or throwing your bones in his direction.
If the servants are negligent in serving hungry guests,
you are expected to rise,
even from a place of honor,
and fetch their food yourself.
Do not be surly in this,
for the task is a higher honor than the place you rose from.
Avoid at all costs
the grave error of
accepting the Emperor’s hospitality
without giving it a thankful thought.
It was given you freely,
and your freely-given gratitude
will be a sign of your soul’s health.
Speak little of yourself.
There are many others
better than you who remain silent.
Four More Beatitudes
Glory be to God for unsuccess,
for houses that fall down and jobs that quit.
They teach us what we’d be without our hands.
Give thanks for planned societies and fads
that promise blissful lives then fizzle out.
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