The Pilgrim’s Aubade

I serve my fellow man in time. My wife,
Family, and friends, the joy I declare.
Each day begins anew; mundane, no strife.
Should I wake early, prayer lights the air.
We pilgrim people count not the minute
Or day; a life to live, God did give it.
Dominion, power, and might is alive
And ordained; a gift to humble, open hands.
Death, true door to our homelands.
But pray we thrive to one hundred and five
Or to the age of our Lord, thirty-three.
To open the womb, one day to be held,
Embraced, kissed, fore one last breath to breathe.
To celebrate life large we are compelled.
Long, short, invigorated or lacking health,
Life from conception is the moment of wealth.
Great glory beyond, true faith does inform.
To wail and lament the sweet, death departed,
Is short-lived, human hearted.
And soon, waiting soul, a new body to transform!

Who lacks not in faith is filled with love and hope.
Motives of credibility prevail.
Where Nietzsche and Sartre fail, Christ’s vicar pope
And Church preserve. Indefectible, “Hail
Holy Queen enthroned above...” trust Her promises,
Less anxious Her followers. Saint Thomas’s
Creation teachings, enlightened scholar:
“Seven Properties of the Glorified Body”.
God took a human body,
And did raise it from the state of squalor.

The single, elderly, same-sex attracted,
And married “will neither marry nor be
Given in marriage,“ like angels, protracted
In eternal grace of conjugal glee.
To be in bliss and need not to possess;
Communion, ecstasy, no need to dress.
Shame does not exist; new fit body; young.
What eschatology has established
Heaven has embellished.
Agape, Eros; the Song of Songs now sung.

Minutes pass, morning petitions conclude,
We dress, join the workforce, future assured.
To breathe or die is no longer a feud.
One choice, rapture or fire, need be secured.
So you too “may know that you have eternal life.“
An endless separation in the afterlife
Is damnation one can choose to refuse.
Pastors like Jesus go from soul to soul
And speak from the scroll.
The People of God began with the Jews.

- Gary Edward Geraci