Flowers Set on tables - 4 of 5 **

But now, those who still coveted the item

Gathered together and began to whisper,

Sometimes lifting their narrow chins

And glancing at us suspiciously.

 

Then, one of them rose

And pointed his finger

Directly at me, and saying

  

“This is the man who did not fear our shoulders,

The one who caused us to stumble upon him,

And admonished us with his steely gaze.”

 

And another said, “No, this is the watcher

Who declined his turn on the great trebuchet

And dismissed our ambitions as ludicrous.”

 

And yet another who was among them said,

“Indeed, he is both of these men - and more!

 

For now, he is a thief

Who gives our treasure

To a grieving woman.”

 

And their whispers turned to chatter,

And their chatter to a cacophony

Of calumny and threats.

 

And this caused the multitude

To abandon the hope of brotherhood

And to argue among themselves �"

Many saying that the covetous

Were right to chastise me

 

But some saying,

 

“No, the covetous are full of evil and slander;

For we have seen with our own eyes

How they drew near a treasure

That could never be theirs,

 

And how this man secured that treasure

On the woman’s behalf, even fearing

That the item he held would

Become his by default.”

 

But now the grieving woman

Turned to address the covetous.

 

And her eyes fell upon them in judgment,

Though her voice murmured like a brook

In a calm meadow of melting snow:

 

 “What you covet, condemns you to vanity,[1]

And vanity condemns you to fear �"

And fear to all manner of evil.

 

You walk like a herd on a beaten path,

Trampling all things that are before you.

 

You immodestly fling yourselves to the heavens,

Knowing the heavens will remain forever above you,

And that their blessings will remain forever beyond you.”

 

And now, you slander the good

Because you cannot possess the good

But can only hiss like serpents at the good.”

 

Then, a villain who had been silent,

And who was nowise other than a goat,

Unsheathed his sword and raised it high above

The woman who had regained what she had lost;

But she neither feared his blade nor his goat eyes.

For that which is Eternal mocks what is momentary.