Lamar Howell's Weblog

THE VAULT

 

I saw Big Brother’s secret guarded vault

Where all things sacred to our hearts are kept

We gave them up by logic or default

By silence, or by dreaming as we slept.1

He locked them there on grounds it kept us “free

from tyranny’s religious rule,” he said.

He did it to fulfill the Court’s decree,2

but never told us where the hallways led.

He started with the Bible’s Holy truth:

He called it dangerous, then placed it there –

in case it might contaminate our youth

with Psalms of praise or maybe the Lord’s prayer.

Then like an Executioner he stood

with Ten Commandments on the chopping block.

We couldn’t see the irony for the hood-

that iron can break so easily through rock.3

We sewed his hood with threads of our own flag.

The rest we used to make our Warden’s cloak.4

Now we salute him oft’ and proudly brag

about the Guard who wields the lawful stroke.5

Then down the darkened hollow wells he tossed

our manuscripts of great antiquity.

The records of our heritage now lost-

Our sacred truths, and moral history.6

He ignored how generations measure time7

by the stroke of Jewish blood across a board,8

and denies that history’s concluding sign

Is drawn not with a pen but with a sword.9

Then from his jangling keys our Guardian State

Removed two bands of covenanted gold10

And made a mockery of man and mate

By locking matrimony in the hold.11

Still feigning love for earth and living things

while making bloody graves of mothers’ wombs,12

he takes our sacrifices – sighs – then slings

life’s sanctity down deep forgotten rooms.13

Our forebears all lie quiet in the grave

as we fulfill their unimaginable fears14

by sacrificing all they died to save,

yet stand with fatted fingers in our ears.15

Let God my helper be, with all the saints

To prove those pillars false, those doors a lie,16

and honor Him whose justice never faints

I pledge my life, if pledging it means die!17

 epilogue:

Our conquerers, when sifting the remains

of this grave palace, on its broken shelves 18

Will find the faded cloak, the hood, the chains . . .19

And a plaque that reads They did this to themselves.

1 apathy

2 Supreme Court decisions

3 Iron is authoritarianism, rock is God’s law

4 we sacrifice freedom for security

5 state becomes all-powerful and we devote ourselves to it

6 denigration of great leaders and moral literature

7 BC/AD Before Christ, Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord)

8 Crucifixion of Christ

9 Denial of Judgment of God

10 State subordinates institution of marriage

11 State degrades institution of marriage

12 State sponsorship of abortion

13 State sanctioning of abortion

14 Loss of the sacred trust of our freedom

15 Our denial of any responsibility

16 Protect freedom, uphold God-given rights

17 Martyrdom

18 Palace is the United States; broken shelves means our failure to know and preserve our history

19 Faded cloak and hood – the flag; the chains –  unjust laws