Stained Collar

Some voices cry for for a divorce

from marriages of politics and faith,
but separation from what gives the breath
to a person from what he speaks with
that breath is problematic, peeling back
the layers of sinew in order to reach the
bare bones of the matter without breaking the
skin that holds it together. Impossible.
What a man believes dictates his actions and his
policy, spewing forth eventually in
words unless he's mute, and then he'll
find another way to show it. If he truly loves
the Lover of his soul, Incarnate Love, it
follows as the night follows day, as verdant
growth follows gentle rain, as anger follows
anger, as hurt follows hate, that love is what
will ooze up through the hardened mud
of man, from every pore.You cannot hide it,
cannot put on church clothes Sunday
over frames of bigotry and not have vileness
stain the stiff, starched collar. On the other hand,
you cannot hide a heart of peace and godliness,
no matter what the outer lack of fashion.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013