stained sneakers scuffing sidewalks
hands stuffed in the pocket of a torn pea-coat
Daniel in bluejeans screams sermons
into frozen air. red-bearded,
handknit cap hiding long curls,
he’s a latter-day prophet promising damnation,
God-ridden to rags & sticks, eyes lit
by bigger things than the sun;
reciting the end he has read
sprayed in graffiti
in that most ancient scrawl:
Me’ne, Me’ne, Te’kel,
Uphar’sin.
urgency we ignore as insanity
but Daniel knows something,
brain blasted clean of all
but his message. he reads it
written in constellations;
the voice of God in a book
echoed as loud as what’s roared
by the bear of the north sky–
that same prophecy
pulled by seven plowing oxen
shining brighter in their burn
than any brimstone
***the highlighted words have meaning assigned to them from the book of Daniel in the OT as:
Mene[e]: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel[f]: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres[g]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
The old “handwriting on the wall.”
This is a reworking of an old, old poem I got the inspiration for before I had the maturity and teeth to write it the way it needed to be (around 1986). You can read it here.
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- apocalypse poem #4 (it’s temporary) (susandanielspoetry.com)
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- Daniel in Bluejeans
Susan Daniels Poetry 
its wonderful to understand the voice of scripture ! Extremely deep in its voice ! You have such breadth! xo
Oh, Deb–thank you!
Sometimes I think we are mostly all a little insane. Maybe these people like Daniel do see the bigger picture. We dismiss and call them insane when, reality is, they can maybe see so much more than we do wearing our tunnel vision blinkers.
This is an awesome write Susan.
Huge change to your blog, Christmas decorating? lol
Thank you, Bren. Awesome insight here. Glad you like my Christmas decorations, but ming you don’t bump your head on the mistletoe–it is hung a little low 😉
eyes lit
by bigger things than the sun; – Stand out line for me 🙂
Much as Picasso died poor, then everyone went ‘oh, actually it’s really good’, so we constantly dismiss our visionaries because the rest cannot understand or accept the message. Much that was madness found a new diagnosis in time – much that was sane was later seen as cruelty. The tide moves and we flow with it, little thinking of where it flows or whether we truly wish to flow with it 🙂
Thank you, Mike. I agree most of our geniuses were seen as madmen (and women) and v-v. Brilliant insight here, man.
It inspired my latest offering, but I didn’t credit you this time as I’m in danger of being taken for your publicist 😉
😉 How much would you charge for said services? I am in need of one!
Their eyes do burn with something we can never know. I remember as a child the fear a “street preacher” could instill. Of course, I’ve also seen that inside the church I was made to attend as a child (Baptist). Between the talk of the “A” bomb and and the burning in the pit of hell, a six year old could have doubts about surviving till the next day. You did Daniel justice; I could ride around today in north Georgia and probably find him on a street corner near me. I also like the line about his eyes and “urgency we ignore as insanity” Leo
Aha! I too was raised Baptist and had the hell scared out of me as a child (literally!). Now that I am older, I often wonder how many times one can be “saved,” because I often repeated that prayer frantically in the pews, because what was coming (the next day, in my child’s mind) had to be avoided at all costs. The Baptists are much kinder and gentler now in my neck of the woods; only mentioning the lake of fire once per sermon…
You all are progressive up there! I haven’t gone to church, except for funerals, in many years and, for better or worse, have felt no regrets, but I’m sure little has changed in many of the small churches in this area. I’m a firm believer in the “seperation of church and me”.
Hahaha–I love that line– the “separation between church and me.” That is perfect. LOL, dare you to tell a northern Baptist preacher he is lax and progressive–no, actually I don’t, because I would sympathize with his congregation experiencing the result…
Too, funny! LOL
Nice new holiday blog theme. I love this poem. Seeing Daniel as some sort of street preacher is a great insight. Well done. You are totally rocking this series!
Terry–thank you! I am really enjoying where these are taking me…also glad you like the theme. I will take it down right after Christmas, after I strip the lights off my tree 😉
your elves and the apocalypse is making me giggle a little.. sorry. 🙂
Yes–horrible contrast, no? Let me get my Baptist preacher on and say in CAPITAL LETTERS–ALL MYTHICAL CREATURES BELONG IN THE LAKE OF FIRE
hee, hee.
laughing.. you are on fire tonight. By the way I love the grandfather clock piece. Read it three times.. really good..making me think(oh dear)
Aw, thanks! That was what started the duetting. Hey–the Panda is doing a contest on his blog, about pulling together comments and cobbling them into a poem). You should check it out–it has been fun.
ok sounds fun
Yes, I was playing with words with the Panda today too…fun day all around. Made work more bearable. Pun not intended until I saw it on the page, so can’t take credit for it.
ooh I do hope you are writing given your mood tonight Susan.. ohh please say you are 🙂
planning to–I’d better with all this mind quirkiness going on).
yes please…
Oh–let me know if you can tell who wrote what–the Panda or me….
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Well done. What we denounce as madness might in reality be windows into our own ignorance.
Oh, there you go again, opening up another perspective in my mind! Well said.
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The latter day and doomsday prophets, they are everywhere, in vehicles, on streets and right behind your window to wake you up at dawn. I must say that sometimes, they have a deep message for us, but I am also guided by the word of God which cautions us to be wary of false prophets, I believe we all have the gift of prophesy or some other gifts if we allow ourselves to be used by the Holy Spirit.
I so agree with you, Celestine–there are gifts that are given by the Spirit, and many pretenders to those gifts.