WHAT SHALL REMAIN

WHAT SHALL REMAIN

Ruined at roadside he slumps in rags
His blistered eyes dumb witnesses to
The mauling of his scorched toe-remains
By his thumbish fingers

He spread his miracles in seedings
Up the burned over mountain

What shall remain will rest in us

Then green in fervor and swindle
His works in rumors
Swept down the burned over mountain

My friends I say again that on that day
What shall remain will rest only in us
What is to be carried will be born by us

But for an idiot’s gummy jawings
The empty chapel eager and afraid
Together all were on the mountain
Of his promised raising of their dead

Be careful of that which you remember
What shall remain will rest in us
Within us gathered as if in the ground

Knock a nail into his head

The chapel is full the cemetery is locked
To ensure that there the dead remain
With that which lies gathered in each
Where the living have left them

Your bread cast to water has surely come back

Ruined at roadside he slumps in rags
Blistered eyes dumbly witness
The mauling of his scorched toe-remains
By his thumbish fingers