Transcendence

I do possess.
I must posses.
A transcendence.
Of spirit and heart and love.

Not to escape history.
Because that's just plain nuts.
To want something good.
Without seeing just how horrible stuff can be.
Is just plain nuts.

No. Not to escape.
But to believe.
To live within the maelstrom.
To hope.
To trust.

That the tortured cries of humanity.
Like the children of Israel in Egypt.
Have a hearing.
And will not endlessly be forgotten.

A transcendence to see better.
The dim outlines of hope.
Often obscured in the harsh glare of greed.

The bright lights of fame and fortune.
Towers of steel and cement.
White houses of shame and deceit.

Hard to see hope in the glare of greed.
In the blinding light of lies and lechery.

Transcendence is no fool's errand.
No widow's blind rage against death.
No momentary escape from reality.
But reality itself.
The living heart of creation.
History's machinery runs on human folly.
And transcendence, too.

Transcendence has teeth.
Spit and spine.
Piss and vinegar.
And is not to be trifled with.

Transcendence reminds me of the rising sun.
The cloud of unknowing.
The majesty of a late-night moth.
Headed toward the flame.

Because the flame is hope.
Home.
Heart.
Everything.

So it goes.
History howls in pain and anger.
Cruel people have their day.
Death reigns its malignant poison.

And that's where I live.
In history.
With its late-night sobs.
And day-light despair.

Transcendence is no escape.
But my strength - to not fall into the darkness.
But into the light.
Like a moth to the flame.

The light of the world, said He.
And many laughed for his want of realism.
But it's his realty that transcends.
Not to escape, but to transform.

To endure, if nothing else.
Until that day when death meets its match.
When greed has exhausted itself and lies dying.
In its own debris of broken promises and poisoned water.

To endure.
To engage.
To enlarge.
To energize.

Faith, hope and love.
Grace, mercy and peace.
Beauty, justice and mercy.

The arsenal of transcendence.
Armed not with might but with right.
Love, not lust.
Generosity, not greed.

Transcendence.
The Lord is great.
And greatly to be praised.
Hallelujah and Amen!