Zealots (poem)

Zealots

Would it not revive him in a way

Guarantee his life with a club key

So he makes a bribe to the canal boatman

And follows the stream with a binocular on

Soon to enter the private door through a tunnel of privet

But appetite remains which he admits

The thought of coffee and toast has good in it

Motives are impure in this sequestered world

And rules are discarded

To save time

Slowly a place of light and shelter

Or what seemed at least a saloon

Turns out to be an empty room with advertising

On the balcony he kept it up

Shared rather half his chicken fingers

Pushing his plate each time towards the newcomer

Emerging from the curtains

Wishing everyone he talked to listened

Think, let’s say, the woman is a human being

The whole experience began tarnished

They saw a man with his baton cut out across the street

Could she have gone over the rail

It was best to turn away and pretend

Zealots stepping past the tape

Bring their cause indoors with the rain

Zealots

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When You See God

(2016, Stephanie Foster)