STEPHEN'S DEFENCE

10 ?? 00

intangibles are hard to promote
and yet
it is a calling i can't shun

i'm an agent
of immodesty and innovation
strange creeds built in benevolence
stumped
by reluctant jumbled tongues

faith is to risk
what fathers are to sons

my words are my faith
and my faith is in my words

ignorance slips the rocks
into the hands of the reluctant

i am here to die
for the one who has written
the words in me

Author's Note

Stephen: first Christian martyr.

As a number of people have been offering up spiritual material lately, it felt like a good time to add this one, written way back in 2000 for school. The assignment: write something with your name in it. It was barely off the teacher's tongue when I knew what I had to write. I actually thought I lost this for several years, and only found it recently.

Reviews

[Abdul Batin Osman Bey]

I like your spiritual out look, this is a cool mesh of yourself and the Biblical person whom you share your name with.

[kublakhan27]

Thanks, again you've grasped my state of mind at the time of writing pretty well^^

[B-poet]

Very poignant and influential. The emotional deepth is the strength of your poem. Great work. :)

[kublakhan27]

Thanks very much :)

[Androglossia]

Ah yes, the ambiguity of the mind. I for one, am not a stranger to this. And I think we are simply the vessel of our thoughts. I know I used to say divine inspiration. But I agree with The Lefthanded..(whatever his username is) when he called it the monster of inspiration. I think the transition of its divinity to monstrosity happens when an inevitable flow of words come out that we don't understand yet we feel the strong need to write them down. Well I guess the bottomline is that a poet does not have the power to choose. I've said this and I'm saying this again. It is powerful emotion that triggers a flow of thoughts jot down on a piece of paper. And the poet gets inspired when he experiences something strong and disturbing in his mind or rather in his soul even those that are beyond his grasp.

[The Random Writings Of ..]

Faith is to risk what fathers are to son's - powerful words there. But what point are we looking at the father and the son's? "my words are my faith, and my faith is in my words - another strong stanza, for many of us say this, but how strong is our faith really? This is a strong and powerful piece wrapped up into one. I feel a darkness coming from the words, especially the ending. I like the ending. It brings it to a close in an eerie way. But I think that can be the case with some spiritual pieces. This is a fantastic write! As always, thank you for sending this!

[kublakhan27]

Thank you Kate :) I knew the dark undertone would be inevitable due to the violence of the event (which you also covered in your poem, which in turn inspired me to post this one) but my intentions were good, and this was the closest I could come to getting that message across. The faith/risk analogy has always been a tricky one even for myself. I think it can be looked at from either perspective, as there has to be some mutual sense of faith between parents and their children, whatever their genders may be, and the element of risk just seems like a logical counterpart to that. I wasn't sure exactly what I was trying to say when I wrote it down but I knew I was saying something important...it's hard to explain lol The last stanza is the one most applicable to me personally as I'm making a bit of a reference to my own life as an aspiring writer. Given my own difficulty in breaking this poem down even after all this time, I'm very glad it was still able to mean something to you :)

[The Random Writings Of Me..Kates]

Of course, and that is the point of all of our writing! As an aspiring writer I think you are well on your way. I know this was written back in 2000, and this is excellent, and the writing from then on has been as well. I have difficulty breaking down my own pieces as well sometimes as the words flow at my fingertips and I read after I have wrote, and think "well I know what I am saying" but I am getting my point across to others? But that is in my opinion what writing is about :) I write to express. You, my friend have an excellent talent!

[afra]

i enjoyed it great write

[kublakhan27]

Thank you^^