Safety Pens
("Like a hunted white-tailed deer, like lost sheep with no shepherd, people
will huddle with a few of their own kind, run off to some makeshift shelter."
Isaiah 13:14 [The Message])
so you gather once a week,
Do you?
to remind yourselves how different you are,
Don't you?
You hope the shepherd likes the way
you've combed your fleece just so,
and haven't bought the latest rag that
ruffles the wool on man-sheep eyes.
so you like your tribunals,
Do you?
to judge the dead, to flaunt your fine humility,
Don't you?
You hope the fences keep them out,
the dead who grab your well-bred pride;
and keep your little ones in behind the
chainlink you call freedom.
so you like your headcheese,
Do you?
to chew the heads off the scary outsiders,
Don't you?
Why are you now carnivorous?
A little while ago the grass was good enough,
and water ran down streams from hills where
frolic was the daily routine.
so you like your inside edge,
Do you?
You like the flatlands where safety is first,
where the sick don't gather,
where the weak don't scatter your
designs on greatness,
Don't you?
And I can hear the laughter on a thousand hills
and a thousand cattle on each one owning their
Master and Friend who meant more for them
than huddles in a pen.
Mark Phillips
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