“The Anarchists” (John 1:1-17; Matt13:52 ) [War – Sub Series Number One – Reflections on Timothy Snyder’s Book, On Tyranny – Poem #3 – Chapter 2]

A Prof of ours once quipped to us
A way of viewing “Orthodox”
That stuck – I was quite cynical;
For life I viewed as cyclical.

Not in the classic circled ways
Of Kum-ba-ya, where Caftan sways
In circles made by Wicca Queens,
Dressed now in sneakers, shirts, and jeans.

Not “History repeats itself”
With doom to us when on the shelf
Experience is laid to rest –
Old issues here stay unaddressed.

More in the sense there’s little new
Under a sky of azure blue;
That Proverb-writers had it right –
“Soak in our Wisdom for your light”.

Quite like this guy some pages back,
“The past sheds light on current facts
In single lives; for kith and kin;
And “Village” world now dwells within.

For knowing’s not the problem now –
Applying knowledge, asking how
I can move forward in the swirl
Of pinwheel’s driven, constant, twirl.

Our challenge now is clash of groups –
Each with its “Doxy’s” action-hoops;
Their “Shibboleths”; and border-codes, or
Protecting turf, and ancient roads.

“Who are your people?” Each one asks;
“Who jerks your chain when boundary’s passed?”
“Do you adhere to custom’s ways?
To laws and mores here, most days?”

“Are you resistant to all change?”
Do you feel righteousness in range?”
“Are you part of some family
With central-values no one sees?”

“We used to cluster, form new groups –
There’s now no room” – were in one soup;
And heat is rising – who’ll prevail,
As old agreements are impaled?

“When social change is daily fare,
‘Entitlements’ are out of there
For all”, no saying which survive –
Volcanic ash helps some ways thrive.

I’m gullible – I’m made that way;
God uses it for work each day;
Some jobs I “Pass” on (from that fact),
But other times I’m quick to act.

A crash-test-dummy’s what I am –
I research hidden ways, and scams;
All undercover-work, you see –
Things then blow up (that’s done through me).

Just ask around; talk; listen up –
I watch for where things now are stuck;
Then Blam! (I’m not the dynamite –
That’s Spirit – after placement’s right).

It’s when we think we are the blast,
It’s not so good as in the past;
“Discern each spirit” Good Book says,
Lest evil spirits have their ways.

Lord, institutions have their place,
But they succumb to newer ways;
“Abide in Me and I in you”,
You said to us – “in all you do”.

That way, the “Best of old and new”
Are saved, and used when partial views
Are better than what went before –
But in new ways lie future doors.

Thanks Lord for this.

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