The face of God

edited 24th Feb 2021


 

i.

I look down upon the gathered crowd.

Know each singular history.

They stare up at me unknowing

Of my yet unwritten story,

But in the ending knowing

They have witnessed the face of God.

 

ii.

He’s lit by the light of seven burnt out candles

Lined up before a splintered mirror,

Face split across four shards, a blade in another

Transforming his blood to crystals.

 

In one eye spin images of his first children –

Daughters tall and strong, wolf sprung eyes,

Sons birthed from the first gravid skies –

Guardians of all soils, keepers of the garden.

 

In the other evolution’s selected lords,

Private enclaves, barbed wire gated,

Guarded, those inside well sated,

Outside stunted horizons, people empty gourds.

 

He looks at the fractures of his dissected face –

Deep lined with the pain of divisions,

The Word, its multiple revisions

Bereft of all original traces – its grace

 

Dismembered, discoloured beyond recognition,

No longer God’s face, just a self-serving vision,

Its lies briefly glorious before collapsing,

Since no earthbound pretence can be everlasting.

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griffonner

Nice write. Well, your God certainly has many faces, and I recognised that from you ‘splintered mirror’. However, I’m sure that re reading this poem will reveal even more . What I’d call a deep write.I especially liked the last line… very profound!
Allen

ifyouplease

for this god, alea iacta est.

ionicus

Alea iacta est? Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

ionicus

Even in the correct sequence, I don’t think the quote is relevant to the poem.

ifyouplease

that’s the sequence wiki uses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alea_iacta_est

but in my mind I had the greek phrase, ο κύβος ερρίφθη so the sequence really doesn’t have any hidden meaning the grammar in latin is correct I think both ways, like it is in Greek if I said ερρίφθη ο κύβος. same thing

we will see what this god designed being the master mind behind this world, the Architect, because the die has been cast.

Last edited 3 years ago by ifyouplease
Guaj

I assume you put in the expression the die has been cast? If so, why remove it? Seems a perfectly reasonable thing to say when talking about Gods Seems to me humans/intelligence have/has an built design fault in that there is a need for a greater being(s) to worship to satisfy curiosity/guilt/fear of the unknown. Hence during evolution iacta alea est… 😉 God(s) have as many faces as there are gods. Seems to me you have just scratched the surface of the “god phenomena” but it’s a good start. Personally? . . . . I don’t buy it. Too much… Read more »

ionicus

We seem to be talking at cross purposes here. My comment was in relation to the Latin phrase ‘iacta alea est’ attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar on January 10, 49 BC, as he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy. As its meaning is about an irreversible military decision, it has nothing to do with God whatsoever and therefore irrelevant to the poem.

Last edited 3 years ago by ionicus
ifyouplease

Luigi, it is more than relevant, the phrase is commonly used in Greek at least, and I don’t know about the rest of the world but judging from wikipedia it’s everywhere the same, so the phrase ο κύβος ερρίφθη is used when everything has been judged/decided and nothing can be done but expect developments negative or positive. Guaj is right and I hoped he’d help you understand why I used the phrase. can you please next time if you have something to say then do it openly and only to me publicly or not? So yes Guaj,Hence during evolution iacta alea… Read more »

ionicus

Why should I address my views to you personally? Mine was a general comment in relation to the poem being assessed, just like the comments you made.

ifyouplease

you did, it was personally addressed to me, it was not a general comment like Guaj’s who chose to comment without replying to anyone specific, yet even there you address your views personally to Guaj, which is fine because that’s how the comments and replies work too, just check above my comment and your reply to my comment not on your work or addressed to anyone (mine WAS a general comment) not even Bhi whose work I was commenting on.

Last edited 3 years ago by ifyouplease
ionicus

What is it that you want, a duel at dawn? Of course it was a reply to your previous comment because every comment is always followed by someone else’s reply. How many times have you disputed people’s views without receiving a response?

ifyouplease

I also wonder what is it that you want, I do not keep track of responses not for me not for anyone, the only thing that interests me is when I comment on someone’s work (the original comment) and he or she replies to other people’s comments but not to mine ever, then I assume I am not that desirable and I almost never add another comment. Do you keep track of how many times nobody responded in my case? There is a lockdown and people are on edge and they search for anything to distract them, even assuming there… Read more »

ifyouplease

the revisions were already autocorrections part of the design, so we will see the results or should have been able to see them (the gnostics already had decided it’s not a good world but a bad one) (ancient Greek tragedy calls the unborn the luckiest of all) (other cultures and ancient or more modern philosophies also find this creation quite horrible, and only those that hope there is an autocorrection/ascension/upgrade waiting for everything and everybody in the course of time still wear their pinkhued glasses trying to make some sense in this cruel,barbaric state of things.) (and it is also… Read more »

ionicus

For goodness sake, folks. The phrase does indeed mean ‘the die is cast’ but it does not refer to God or the face of God whatsoever. It was uttered in the year 49 BC and it wasn’t said about Zeus, Aphrodites or any other divinity, Greek or otherwise, but to qualify Caesar’s action.
In view of what Bhi has said about how the poem was conceived, can anybody pinpoint to me the passage where the quote in question applies?

ifyouplease

when a politician on tv says the die has been cast about a decision of the government he is not referring to Zeus or God or Ceasar or Wiki or me and you, it’s a phrase commonly used to signify/announce/proclaim the deterministic fate of any plan and endeavour. it is used figuratively.

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+die+is+cast

ionicus

No plan is cast on stone, and often ‘the best plans of mice and men’ are subject to changes; so it is useless to proclaim, even figuratively, that ‘the die is cast.

ifyouplease

of course it is relevant, I’m saying for this Creator of this kind of world that the die has been cast. that’s my comment. I do not care about any revision at all, which I know it’s already encrypted in the design. This world works like this and its Creator works in mysterious ways. But the mysterious die is cast. And I must say I am not curious at all to see how the Creator will make it all fine and dandy in the end, or obliterate it and start from scratch. the die is cast for the creator above… Read more »

ionicus

That’s assuming that one believes in an omnipotent God

ifyouplease

in the existence of very powerful Gods yes I do believe just like I believe there are powerful people or animals in jungles, some species are destined to become more dominant than others and we humans only have our free thinking to resist any dominance which is against our personal values and preferences, as for who or what is worthy of believing piously: one thing I know that I know nothing.

Last edited 3 years ago by ifyouplease
ChairmanWow

Well, what a response to this work. The last line points to belief systems, once powered by true inspiration, have a shelf life. Religions subject to survival of the fittest over time like everything else. Corruption pervasive and inescapable. The face of God, briefly seen, is not comprehended.

stormwolf

Hi Bhi 🙂

I feel that totally honest crit is essential. (not inferring anyone’s crit is not btw) but although I can see the poetry in every line…I cannot marry it all together to come across as a poem I can understand. Perhaps I am not sophisticated enough 😉
Alison x