Hells Bells

While I recognize the hypocrisy

Of my words, held in plain view by daylight,

I cannot help but state the facts that cause

Me to lose hope, move me to hate my friends,

To descend into darkness where I may

Never mend. Shall I tell you how it came

To pass how I was lost even while

At mass? You were there, were you not? As I

Sought about for something to say, some thought

That would not lead me astray, yet you did

Not act upon what you saw, but with nods

Of prayer, full of reflection, deceived

Your eyes of my distress, continued on

Your path of self righteousness, while

I felt more and more duress.  Thus like a

Man who hath fallen down into some cave

Do I now labor about, I so slave

To escape my dreaded prison, of which

I have no name to give; such is my life,

A darkness, an abyss where in I live.

Wherein I have talents I would give.

Were you not charged thus, to set free captives,

Held by such chains? Then why do you not act

Upon the Word made clear by homilies?

Held back perhaps by some mad, unknown fear?

You are like a man brought out of darkness,

Who having seen the great light did rejoice!

But having found your place among the light

You forgot your message and in such spite

Did seek to move further up, further in,

Until those left behind, those still in sin,

Were but the memory of some distant

Shade that once did battle with your soul through

The battlements of your eyes. The slit by

Which you still defend yourself, your fortress,

That tower of iron and stone, prevents

You from bringing in any others still

Lost. Should you not like Plato said announce

Such Words of heavenly bread to those still

Left in darkness and dread? Why do you sit

Upon the precipice so sharp as teeth,

That mouth that seeks to consume heart and soul,

That gaping maw which prevents us to leave?

For how can we leave unguided by phial

light, bright as that of Galadriel's might?

Should Frodo so escape his prison as

He was? Naked, devoid of any love?

You lack the heart of the Gaffer, inside

You are merely afraid to walk outside

And give this light to others; errant knave!

Yet looking here deep within, my heart of

Stoney wrath, I cannot help but see my

Sin. I preach, yet do not follow, no trust

Will I give to they whom I do attend.

So now listen well, my hearts cry, my plea;

That you should not descend into such hell,

Please, my dear friends, do not end up like me!

For having seen the light I did so contend

With disbelief and now might never mend,

But for the hope that is still in my heart,

That someday the Light shows my better parts.

For I did see the light and thought to live,

But through painful spite I forgot to give.

Hell's Bells, (C) Luke Bennette, March 2012