Man of Substance ~ Second Edition 2025

MAN OF SUBSTANCE

Poetry Archive 2014

Much damage is caused by narrow-minded self-righteousness. Of a small core of young people, especially those young women who insist they have God’s ear - maybe they do - with lofty pronouncements that “it is impossible to be born gay”.

I listened to America’s 44th President in his interview with Professor David Olusoga on the BBC on November 17, the date Part I of the President’s Autobiography is published: The Promised Land by Barack Obama. A voice of calm, of reasoning, without stridency came to mind.

That, in turn, prompted these lines.

It is the Clarion Call to every one of us to be of substance.

I have kept the masculine gender for two reasons:

1 I am a man

2 I am not for political correctness, but this applies equally to every gender

WEARY

"I am tired of this life,

tired of these silly young people,

tired of decrepit old men,

tired of all who seem hell-bent

on making life a misery".

© 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall

Scene I

A Man of Substance, be!

An Enigma, even …
Mystery becomes Character!

Intended not,
but built upon
life’s premise,
that white is black
and black is white …

Presenting to the world
Oneself as the world
would desire one to be …

rather than being
I AM WHO I AM
I AM WHAT I AM
I AM WHAT I BE
God forbid! … that
I am what I WANT to be!

Cultural blending
Whitewash

In the vast chasm wherein I stood

seemingly tiny, irrelevant, an aberration,

A light enabled me to see dimly,

Darkness had the edge

and closed in upon me.

Vent not
unnatural feelings

the voices urged,
the pastors taught,
and worst of all
the narrow-minded
within that much wider flock,

for to so do will render
you an abomination,
if not in SOME men's eyes,
MOST CERTAINLY in God's Eyes!
And you will be caught out!
And cast into outer darkness!
...OBLIVION...but not
as you would hope,
everlasting death.

Scene II

I do not agree with you
That inner determination
That sense of quiet
Of Oneness
Mein Wohlbefinden…[i]
Yes, my wellbeing…

A seismic moment
A billion mutterings
Spitting, viperous, venomous,
writhing, loathing;
of religious self-righteousness
Sulphuric,
Acidic,
a
universal Fartic Utterance
A Stench within each nostril

YOU DARE TO QUESTION US?

they screamed!

Scene III

I surely do!
The Ages, down
Men's lives you have made
Die Hölle auf Erden[i] 
Yes, and Women too

Now you are on the back foot
Your intolerance
Grows more strident,
More total,
More evil with the arrival
of each evening.

But you have had your time.

You will not imprison others
As you once imprisoned me.
You will not cast that iron mask again.

I will take you
to your furnace.
I will use your smelting irons
to fashion anew.

The Darkness became so Black

I sensed it around my hand held in front of my face,
a breath away,

Yet impossible to see

That light I briefly saw
seemed extinguished now.

But I would stand my ground.
I had had enough of
the detritus and slaving
of repugnant ideologies.

I vomited at the sight of that Death’s-Nell cap badge.

Scene IV

Learn the lesson of twelve hapless souls …
Twelve years on, look upon
those same benighted souls
contemplating their final journey,
their final hours,
few contrite,
most resistant even unto death,
from Nuremberg to Dachau
hanged by the neck
then
burned in the very ovens
they created 
not twelve years earlier
for a different reason beyond human comprehension
A different, innocent, people,
'subhuman' in their
demonic miscalculation
and that final irony:

their lawful executions
by Order of the War Crimes Tribunal!

I am one of millions,
trillions even.

I am no rock 
A pebble perhaps?

Maybe…
A chip off the block, yes!

And then again, if I listen to you,
Maybe not.

And yes...
My eyes do indeed sweep throughout
the earth...

For as it is written of gods

I prefer to write of Nature…

'The Eyes of NATURE

Range throughout the Universe'

That principle I charge
is at the centre of every faith
not only Judeo-Christian

And if perchance a person
preferring a humanistic philosophy
I warrant they will have no objection
in its rendering afresh :

’

The Eyes of JUSTICE and EQUITY

Range throughout the Earth

Seeking those whose hearts

Are truly for such natural disposition.

My remit is simpler
I look to throw the lifeline.

To whom?

To ALL races, colours, creeds, genders

As natural and normal

...yes, in His Eyes…

…yes, in Her Eyes…

…yes in Their Eyes...

as I am 

I am no longer restricted or constricted
by earthly or religious boundaries

I AM FREE 

Scene V

The Chasm came forth in Light Abundant
Such that it took my breath away.
This was no ordinary light.
No

This Light was the source of All Being

That which has existed and will never be extinguished

And I put out my hand…

A Face

Smooth

Hair pure gold

Lips

Eyes

And a Voice the sound of a million Waters

Yet this Face

Can this be?

I gasped.

Surely not?

But in my heart, I knew.

A million aspects of Nature Supreme.

Yes, Nature Supreme in a million dimensions

YES!

I AM Free

I AM Alive

In Eternity

Ian Bradley Marshall

25 July 2024
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL


© 2024 Ian Bradley Marshall

Digital Art is by IBM KTW unless otherwise credited

Notes

i my wellbeing
ii hell on earth
iii 2 Chronicles 16:9

Author Note

The original Banner Image was suggested by a third party, with a wide and wise understanding
and I was very pleased to accept the recommendation
and that image appears below

Last published 12 July 2021
Reworked January 2025


This Second Edition issues 17 January 2025

This Original Banner Image was suggested by a third party, of wide and wise understanding and I was very pleased to accept the recommendation;
and so, being a man of principle, and - yes - something of a renaissance man too …

the Image stays!

The Image is by courtesy of Unsplash through Squarespace

First Written 2 February 2014 in Liverpool

This piece is popular in Brazil, Indonesia and the United Kingdom