What Is This Future? It Is NOT Dante's Inferno! New Second Edition (August 2024)
The First Edition was written in the singular, the reader is encouraged to read it thus of oneself ~ herself, himself, she, her, he, him ~ so that the encouragement within these stanzas might enter the heart, coarse through the veins, and lodge firmly in the brain. This Second Edition is written as if a Person is speaking quietly to the reader, reasoning, contemplative, reassuring and rebuilding the reader’s confidence.
What is this future?
It is the sum total of your past
Your successes and failures,
Sadness, Heartache
Moments of Inexpressible Joy.
Joy, it is, to firmly grasp, and not let loose!
Cast off the heaviness.
Know that your life is never wasted.
That your future,
aeons from now,
is the brightest yet,
Resting upon Earth’s Foundations,
this temporal realm.
Have nothing to fear.
You have been a good person?
That is subjective.
Yes, you have made mistakes.
Yes, you have been wrong.
But not all the time.
Fair to middling does not mean good.
But that is not for you to think about.
Can you make your life better?
Yes. It rests upon making your life easier
for others to cope with.
Still be ~
Your own man,
Your own woman,
Your own person,
Your own gender,
Be your own being
in body and soul and spirit,
that triangular framework
that stands outside of Time
that stands outside every religion
that stands outside every creed.
You have brought life to many lives,
And that is what counts above all.
Speak not of religion.
Have no fear of hell.
For hell is not a threat.
Hell is here, on this earth,
in this Present Realm.
You are fashioned on the anvil,
beaten and smelted,
Into a Priceless Diamond
And your heart rests pure.
You do not need to fear the night,
Incandescent Light
Be filled with Awe, Delight,
Wonder and Humility.
We all looked at each other.
I AM WHOLE
I AM A MAN
I AM WHOLE
I AM A WOMAN
I AM WHOLE
I AM TRANSGENDER
I AM WHOLE
I AM BI
The circle complete
An Awareness Denied to every person
until this atom-splitting moment
WE ARE WHOLE
YOU ARE WHOLE
Without this Circle, beyond,
like drones
does every religion lurk,
Their circles interweaving.
Plots and Schemes afoot,
The Circle must be erased.
Those who make up the Circle must disappear.
They are a threat to the very continuance of human life
… and so they went on…
That night, that incredible, elevating night
I wandered home,
questioning the creator, not outwardly, no; just by thought.
Deep, subterranean thought.
Why on earth did You prompt all these religions
to write about You in the way that they do,
to portray You?
As I turned the corner and looked along the Evesham Road,
headlights declared the arrival of Spring,
The Foliage was thickening,
Beautiful, an incandescent array, a million hues.
It is very peaceful.
I dared to give a nudge as I approached Central Cross Drive.
I DIDN’T!
I recalled an earlier time
Walking home
One evening in 2017
on the Liverpool Waterfront.
As I turned the corner and looked along the Strand
Past the Liverpool Albert Dock,
headlights in six lanes declared the arrival of Spring,
passing by the Liver Building.
The Foliage was thickening in Chavasse Gardens [i]
Beautiful, an incandescent array, a million hues.
It is indeed peaceful.
I dared to give a nudge, as I approached Waterloo Road
and the Princes Half Dock
and the Waterloo Dock Basin.
Yes. I’ll climb out onto the roof tonight
and enjoy that Empty Space
that Most Secret Place
With just the harbour pilots on the tide’s turn
to guide the Ships to Pier Head.
And then I heard it.
I DIDN’T!
[i] Chavasse Park is a beautiful garden in the city centre of Liverpool, England, United Kingdom. It was named in commemoration of the Chavasse family; Francis and his twin sons Christopher Maude Chavasse, and Noel Godfrey Chavasse. This entry is by courtesy of Park & Gardens, The Hestercombe Gardens Trust, Hestercombe, Somerset, Cheddon Fitzpaine TA2 8LG here.
How strange.
Sometimes, we don’t always hear
that still small Voice.
Ever patient,
Then, in an entirely different place
Again, that still small Voice.
21 August 2024
All Rights Reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Written 7 March 2014 and the first edition last appearing on 23 January 2024
Digital Artwork by KTW
