spotlight

[kenneth]

"simul justus et peccator" (simultaneously just and sinner)


It blinds my retina with beaming authority,
letting me know that my perception lacks perfection.
Why else do you see my natural blemishes beneath these honest rays?

It exposes the ungrateful depths of an isolated soul
before an audience dwelling in scrutinizing shadows,
wondering what shortcomings will emerge with my next breath.

Is it the slurs between my verbs, the stammering of my lips
or the absence of pure thoughts spilling out of a tainted spring
delivering sweet and bitter streams to parched throats?

I cannot blame the light for fulfilling its purpose.
It simply reveals what has always been present
in the cardiac chambers of a demoniac facing stage fright.

If anyone would benefit from the Messiah
Who scribbled on the ground and forgives listeners
caught in the very action of spiritual adultery,

Then may the Light of the World transform my face
so that you may be forced to veil it when I step down
from the mountain of spoken word meditations.