[Jeffrey]

missionary

Tell your next of kin that you're boarding a plane due east,
tell them that the least of these are taking up the most space
in your cluttered mind, in your convex heart, up & away.

...............I won't be far behind,
...............I will be tracing the arc
...............of your footprints

..........PAUL OF TARSUS WAS RIGHT
Write a letter home, tell them what you've known has not prepared
you for what you've seen here on the streets of St. Murdoch, where
the syllogisms of redemptive grace proved to be structurally valid
but factually unsound, and now with all four on the golden ground
you're rewriting the inferences and finding them more in line with
the jeremiads & exegeses of the fringe fanatics, zealous for the
glory of a god just beyond the touch of induction.

...............You can't understand how
...............I can just slip on a mask
...............and set myself to this gray
...............task of thankless steps,
...............head over heel, the real
...............world watching me closely

..........LAST DISPATCH FROM THE FRONT LINES
...............Father God, come for me
...............in the midst of a den of thieves,
...............a warren of weary, wet warriors
...............pleased with the rippling of their
...............flags and the taste of infant flesh
...............and their fields of amber grain