28.  The Privilege of Breathing

They say a good man can never

Stay down, but what about a man

Who’s not so good but keeps clinging

To the hem of Your robe?

What then for us who seek You

While the others seek us,

Thirsty for blood and the meat

Of our hearts, blind to the curdled

Stench of their own blood,

Slowed and stagnant

In their clotted veins?

You stand before and behind

And take measure of all

The big evil inside all

These small men, and laugh

At the mockers who claim

Their own breath when You’re

The one whose given them

The privilege of breathing.