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Submitted by kailashana on 29 June 2009 - 11:02am.| Updated 29 June 2009 - 3:47pm.
Style / Type:
freeform
the river Jordan flows
into the sea
i have met countless
John-the-Baptists
i have met many a
Pontius Pilate
but it is always
Judas
whom i shall
love,
who else shall
baptise me
when the last
veil of me
red like the setting
sun,
is torn to shreds
and I stand there,
ashamed.
~A
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Anna this is so beautifully
Anna this is so beautifully deep … I always think you cant get any better and then you go and right something as profound as this … brillant write .. Love Jayne x
I laugh…. WHERE do they
I laugh…. WHERE do they come from? Not me.. certainly not me. ;-)
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Anna
Congratulations on spotlight this one certainly deserves it … Jayne
heheheh. 2 days later, and
heheheh. 2 days later, and so far, i’m still there, though Anni and I are dancing.
Isn’t poetry/poems something? A poet never knows when one is going to touch many.
For me, it’s usually the one’s I’m always a little reticent to submit.
Love.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Poetry is sometimes all life is
One streamed poem to spotlight … but how beautifully you both dance I am happy to sit and watch in awe .. Love Jayne
=0
Hello Anna. I agree with Jayne. This poem is exceedingly deep and thought provoking. I think the title is appropriate and clever. The subject matter is unique. Keep up the good work.
Always, Cat
Thanks Cat, i love your
Thanks Cat, i love your cat.
~Always…. all ways.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
thirty peices
aha that ol judas hes a real good kisser I hear
Pontius is still around doomed to wander forever
imagine
wonder what he thinks of modern man
internet air travel
Billy mays and Micheal jackson now gone
are they in heaven??
Cleaveland we had a three fifty one engine from
Ford made in Cleaveland it sure went fine in our
seventy five blue ford Torino
I enjoy your poems very much
they are wonderful creations
you are a good poet
Can you imagine being Judas,
Can you imagine being Judas, Hitler, Idi Amin? Someone had to fulfill that destiny, glad it wasn’t me.
~S
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
This is a good image
Oh Judas, yes I expect we all feel we are closer to him, how
perfect can we be, not!
many a
Pontius Pilates……….surely no S here?Love to you Anna from Annof Norway
Betrayal… without
Betrayal… without that….would we be who we were meant?
Hugs of Love Anna,
Anna
p.s. thank you, i tands corrected! ;-)
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Dear Anna,
He understood
the task
did you know?
Infamy from love.
His master had
to work up to
the sacrifice.
Breaching
Judaic law
in private first,
before the public.
Finding courage
Finding reasons
to fling Judas
as carrion.
From the hanging
tree.
Will you?
He asked.
For love?
For me?
Brian
Perfect love asks no
Perfect love asks no questions. ;-)
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Anna, this carries so much
Anna, this carries so much humanity and yet I am more convinced than ever you are a conduit of divinity, we all are, I know, you just present it so perfectly, your poetry finds light bulbs Anna, in the tree house of my soul, and they are given permission to shine, thank you, much love b xxx
How beautifully you put
How beautifully you put that…. that sounds like the beginnings of a poem, Beki,
EH?
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
A poem, EH? x
mmmmm now there’s a thought ;) x
why should we not take our own baptism shed the shame beside the
Anna … right where you belong, spotlit & glowing potently. I love this of course.
How beautiful,
how vulnerable
how perfect
the shredded sunset draped across your exposed heartbeat self
where aching is a constant
since the emptiness hit shock sharp
& poured into spaces once warmed by love that satisfied
I would seek you out & slip my hand quietly to yours
walk silently to waters wild & eddies quiet
immersing quiet solitude, though side by side
why should we not take our own baptism
shed the shame beside the remnants of the veil
Just a thought…
Of course I do understand your choices of baptist
& the shame
though I wish you wings to lift from it
& any other shackles
With love & warmth.
brilliant poem… as always
Anni xxx
We dont believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveal
We speak from the same
We speak from the same heart, Anni, broken open for all to see, there is no shame in that, ever.
Love.
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
I hate to keep coming by only to say
“I thought this was great” but I thought this was great. I think one of the gifts of your poems is they relieve me of the ability and, really, the burden, of being clever.
Always straight to the
Always straight to the point…..what matters, the matters of the heart, my dear Arrow.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Hi Ana
I do not wish to take a moral stand on Judas. Recent research has shown that he was only playing out his role in destiny and that too much against his will.
There is one thing however I would like to say: You are a fine poet and have written a great poem.
Keep singing Anna like the nightingale in John Keat’s poem. You are a fountain of beauty whose source is inexhaustible.
Always … Leonard
We all play our roles out,
We all play our roles out, the one that has our name, our skin and bones, teeth and nails.
I have learned to surrender. I have learned to fight the good fight.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
baptism
You are amazing. Your poetry touched me deeply, as did the profundity of the text. Christianity was dependant on two people, Jesus and Judas.
Kindest Regards
Ian T
Thank you Ian. That was my
Thank you Ian. That was my thought. My roots are Catholic though I have branched out into the truth of *spirituality* under the guise of religion.
I have said enough.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Very good
The way you knitted the poem is just lovely–fantastic. It goes deep like the ocean.
Good days
Thank you. And here i
Thank you. And here i thought i knew nothing about knitting. ;-)
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Anna...
just another admirer paying homage…
great write!
Thank you for gracing my
Thank you for gracing my page, moonman.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Bow. Shameless, we dance
Bow.
Shameless, we dance the only dance there is, all is bliss.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Beautiful poem
Hopefully it will be someone other than backstabber of humanity to baptise you!
:-) Let’s all keep in mind even during our cutesy Gnostic baby boomer days that Judas *was not a hero*. He was demonic.
GB
I respect immensely your
I respect immensely your avatar, GB.
However, you are immensely wrong about Judas. I think (if there was such a person as Christ ~ Dr.Schweitzer, among others, spent his life in research )then the one person that Jesus could count on was Judas. All the other apostles fled and denied him, to eventually sermonize and create their particular memory/vision, their gospel.
No matter what name, the man still would have been a *Judas*… and who hasn’t felt betrayed at some point in his/her life?
Hope I haven’t stepped on too many toes, I like to look at things in ways that aren’t/haven’t been readily seen. I’m not adverse to exercising my own questions regarding accepted truths, be it scientific or religious.
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Well
We’re all entitled to our opinions.
First off, as a small note, Christ’s historical existence is indisputable. The Romans themselves documented his existence. In an age of increasing secularism and questionable scholarship regarding the Gospels, that one bulwark has held beyond any tide. The following are Ancient Jewish and Secular historians who knew Christ personally:Paul, Clement of Rome, Philip of Hireopolis, Papias
Polycarp and of course Augustus who may have witnessed the crucifixion.
Judas was not the most reliable disciple at all. New Agers say the same thing about Mary Magdalene, and she wasn’t either. (John was). He was an alcoholic and had– according to Crossan, Yoder, Ellul, and about a two dozen others not coming to mind right now–probably consorted with Roman soldiers before for the purpose of personal gain. The Church fathers left some of the “other gospels” out for very good reason: the Nag Hammadi library is filled with apocryphal nonsense that can never be substantiated. Elaine Pagels is mostly at fault for this.
“And a demon entered into Judas called Iscariot”: Luke 22:1-7
(Thank you very much for the compliment about my avatar. And GB means God Bless! God bless you!)
:-)
Dear guillsvein1,
I hesitated for a time to enter this dialogue, at least so Anna could respond in her own way. Personally, I have a great fondness for scholarship and argument. I am not one who goes so far as to deny a history to Jesus, but the scholarship does contain a dispute, with the preponderance favouring his existence. However, the authorities you direct us to are overplayed. Paul, Clement of Rome, Papias and Polycarp did not know or cannot be documented to have known Christ personally. The best that can be said of Paul was that he met the idea of an “arisen” Christ on the road to Damascus and later met James, Jesus’ brother. Clement’s documentary legacy is a single letter which does not shed light on this issue. Papias probably wrote many of the sayings of Jesus but via the mediation of the Disciples, not through personal contact with Jesus. Polycarp died circa 155 A.D. in ,Smyrna, and is not thought to have been born long before 70 A.D. In fact, I know of no credible account that any of these persons met with anyone closer than Apostles of Jesus. Philip of Hieropolis, has no surviving papers of his own and is so thoroughly confused with Philip the Evangelist that few writings concerning him can be trusted.
The only non-biblical account of Jesus’ life written by a somewhat contemporary of that life is contained in Titus Flavius Josephus’ (originally, Yosef Ben Matityahu)”Antiquities of the Jews”. Unfortunately, the passage on Jesus has been altered, probably by a Christian enthusiast, somewhere down the years (compare the passages on Jesus and on James for a simple test). I have given my copy of Josephus to my son. And I noted, of course, that you did not refer to Josephus in your proofs.
We are left with this much contemporary documented accounting of Jesus: 0, none, zilch. Thus the controversy which you take pains to deny.
What is clear, if we are to follow the Gospels closely, is that Jesus began to challenge Judaic law in secret: that is in the privacy of a home, without much of an audience. He did little things at first, such as breaching the instruction against work on the sabbath. When we hear these stories, our ears typically absorb only the account of the small miracle. However, a rabbi of the time would say: “Why couldn’t you wait to Sunday?” As time went on, Jesus’ challenge to Judaic law became braver, and flowed out into public places. So he turns over the coin changers tables on the Temple Mount and makes much of their contaminating the Synagogue. However, the money changers were there for the benefit of the Synagogue and outside the entrance to the Synagogue. The rabbinical father’s would not accept Roman coins as sacrifices of the faithful, so money changing was necessary to allow the faithful to convert their day-to-day money into the acceptable rabbinical coinage.
Do you think that Jesus did not see where his challenges were leading? Of course, eventually he refused to disclaim to be the Messiah, which if wrong was the highest form of blasphemy. I think that he did know what he was doing. I think he was very much the author of his own unfolding. And as such, those that got him to where he wanted to be were aids not demons. But then some people like the idea of demons.
Brian
I'm just not
sure on some of these “historical” claims you’re making, Brian. First of all, even contemporary secular historians are convinced that Jewish Rabbi named Jesus Christ existed. .
In the same breath that you deny Christ’s existence–methinks it hard to believe that 11 of the 12 disciples died for a man who didn’t exist, unless there were some high grade psychedelics being distributed in the Holy Land we have yet to uncover–also, all the other rival messiahs of the time faded away when Jesus showed up on the very dangerous scene of the Roman Empire. Hallucinations are usually associated with mental illness or drugs; but in the disciples’ case the prior psycho-biological preparation appears to be wanting. The disciples had no anticipation of seeing Jesus alive again; all they could do was wait to be reunited with him in the Kingdom of God. There were no grounds leading them to hallucinate him alive from the dead. Moreover, the frequency and variety of circumstances belie the hallucination theory: Jesus was seen not once, but many times; not by one person, but by several; not only by individuals, but also by groups; not at one locale and circumstance but at many; not by believers only, but by skeptics and unbelievers as well. (i.e., the ones who wondered whether his baptism by St. John The Baptist was “from men or from Heaven”.)
Christ existed during a time very similar to the Third Reich; his being the Son of God and all, this makes for a pinchy situation indeed. Of course he had to challenge Judaic law in secret, or the crucifixion and Resurrection could never have taken place. The “controversy” I am trying to so “strenuously deny” is no controversy at all. Even the Romans themselves, grievously flawed as they were, consulted Christ in times of extreme duress, as reflected in the Gospels.
You write: “As time went on, Jesus’ challenge to Judaic law became braver, and flowed out into public places. So he turns over the coin changers tables on the Temple Mount and makes much of their contaminating the Synagogue. However, the money changers were there for the benefit of the Synagogue and outside the entrance to the Synagogue.” Absolutely correct.
Above: “I am not one who goes so far as to deny a history to Jesus, but the scholarship does contain a dispute, with the preponderance favouring his existence.” At this point in our debate I get a little confused. So, the same man who challenged the money changers in the temple, as you readily admit, is given an unfair preponderance regarding his *very existence* by those very serious folks I mentioned in my above post? For a touch of humor, this reminds me of the film “The Matrix”.
Let’s keep in mind, this is a historical debate only. I look forward to your response; refreshing my knowledge of the Gospels and their divinely inspired Master always starts my day out right,
God bless!
Thank you, also. As we are
Thank you, also. As we are poets, and so are intrinsically connected to our opinions, i abide in awareness.
The rest, in my opinion ;-), are all stories, fabricated in the One mind, call it God, call it whatever you want.
…and GB
~A
“There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.” Anais Nin
Anna,
apart from tending to fall for the “Judas” myself, and from your beautiful words, I am intrigued by this discussion.
As far as I remember, Jesus himself forgave Judas, but his other disciples were not able to do so. And many of them doubted and despaired…
John the baptist, he always seemed a little off balance to me… And yet, baptism can be an incredibly spiritual experience. At the risk of sounding like a heretic: I think it is a pity that so many people are baptized as little children and will never remember this experience…
By the way: the river Jordan looks incredibly in-impressive (if that is not a word, it is now). It reminded me of my hometown river, the Wupper, and was an overall disappointment…
Yours,
~Nina
P.S. For another view of John the baptist and all the other characters in question, you might consider reading “Lamb. The gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal”.
Baptism…. is an immersion
Baptism…. is an immersion into Life. Do we still make a distinction between material and spiritual?
Love,
Anna
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi
This is quite profound
and I feel honoured to have read it!!
Anna I bow to you
:)fleur
No need to bow beautiful
No need to bow beautiful fleur, just send money!!!! Jus’ kidding.
Love,
Anna
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi
Anna
Only a person that knows can write this.
I loved it, in it’s truth.
Congrats!!!!
thanks,
Eddie
I’m pleasantly surprised,
I’m pleasantly surprised, though I know not why, how many folks understood this poem, but than again I’m in the company of poets. Poets have gone through the rituals we all must face.
~A
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi
baptism
As I told you before, your poem is an absolute gem – BUT –through no fault of yours , I sense an undercurrent starting to develop and fear you may soon be in the eye of the storm . Religion has always generated more heat than light, so take care my butterfly
with love
Ian T
Yes!!!!! I accept my
Yes!!!!! I accept my fate.
Love,
Ann
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi
Well I agree with Quills.....
Very thought provoking write, but anyone who personally knows Jesus now, Today ! knows this is just misleading…. Love the comments though. I personally thank Judas, without his betrayal Jesus would not have been crucified and we all would be lost, not just those who are to narrow minded and worldly to believe.
God Bless,
-DarkinAz-
Ahhh. you have
Ahhh. you have arrived.
~A
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi
I just urge you to read 2
I just urge you to read 2 corinthians 10. I ask you this because of your quote, I see you are well diversed in your reading, how much more life the word of God offers than the wisdom of false prophets.
This?1 Corinthians 2 10
This?
1 Corinthians 2 10 (thru 16)
but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[a] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16”For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?”[b] But we have the mind of Christ.
…as long as there remains separate, a material world and a spiritual world, one is not yet baptised… ~A
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” Mahatma Gandhi