Monday 2 September 2019

Villanelle: The Inscrutable

This was published on ground.org.uk website, 14 Sept 2016 (although the site now appears to be defunct).

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Exaudi Domine is my cry;
Mid-quest, the dustlands cake my lips.
I know the what but not the why.

Is God a brute who blinds our eye,
And so we fall, one drowns, one trips?
Exaudi Domine is my cry.

Or Great, but gifting liberty,
Thrusts hemlock on a child who sips?
I know the what but not the why.

Some say He’s process flowing by,
Undone when gaolers thrash their whips.
Exaudi Domine is my cry.

Others, He’s ground of sky and sty
(A pearl through ordured fingers slips).
I know the what but not the why.

What’s left but that forsaken sigh
Of One whose blood from the Cross drips?
Exaudi Domine is my cry;
I know the what but not the why.

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© March 2015