The War of Pascha

Here is a rather violent Easter poem, inspired by reading Joshua at the beginning of Lent. The theme is easy to understand: after 40 years in the desert Israel was finally brought into the promised land, but many turned back and said it was not worth it once they saw the land was inhabited. So at the end of our 40 days of spiritual combat, we may look with fear at the final conquest necessary to live by the grace of repentance and instead turn back toward the pleasures we fled.

The War of Pascha

At Pascha there are giants. Tremble not,
but raise your arm to kill. Strengthened by
the bone-dry times, when you begged the rock to gush,
and chose to thirst through cloud and dust, against
the call of home and meat, you’re now starved strong
and leavened plump again by butter bright.
So raise your arm to kill. A promise was
enough to pull you from all vanity.

At Pascha there are giants, trust the word,
the promise spoke in blood, the contract signed
in breath. Let not the slack fall from your loins,
but take your club, your blade, your sling, and run
into the blessed danger of the land of peace.

I’m also pleased to announce that my second book, The Loser, the Robot, and the Antichrist, is finally available for purchase. I will make a full post about this soon, and if you haven’t already, you can preview a draft of the first chapter here.

Paid subscribers, send me a mailing address and your name to receive a signed copy of the new book!