Bill Cushing

APOLOGIA

First commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

I,

a fallen spirit,

made a forced exit;

ultimate love for Him

led to this downfall, this

condition of torment

I now lead.

Heaven,

then, 

was ageless, changeless, 

forever and eternal— 

as I was.

Still am.

The law was laid down ages before 

man, before 

altars, before 

temples or churches, before the writing of

law itself. Then,

that First Commandment was altered and

given to mankind: trivial creatures

created out of ego,

then possessed by it. It is ego,

not knowledge,

that is original sin.

Remember this:

before you were, that command stood

for all—animals, plants,

even angels, 

but when clay and dust

were mixed

with the breath of life

to become an imposter

of their creator, 

then

even angels were told,

“Kneel before men.”

Now,

my temptations serve as testimony

to man’s worthlessness,

proving his Bible and God’s own words

correct.

The torture of souls is only

an afterthought, only

reciprocity of torment. 

For my refusal to bow,

I suffer now; 

as do you.

GATES OF HELL

Prima sezione

The Poet sits atop the lintel

contemplating original sin 

while Ugolino devours his sons

and bodies crawl over bodies, grinding

in anguished copulation of need 

never satisfied. Surrendering 

hope, desperate to attain relief,

they try but know they can never flee. 

Seconda sezione

How does one incarcerate Satan

when he was delivered already, 

consigned and impaled to sheer stone walls 

steep in the depths of searing torture 

and guarded with the care of envy?

 

Terza sezione

Incensed by the erosion of time

that softens and sabotages, the Devil calls

for cacophony between the quiet 

lightning revealing feral fortune 

as the beauty of desolation

descends into vengeance to fracture 

the force of the oppressive thunder

from millennia of violence.

Jealousy transforms rapture into 

innate bitterness while the devil, 

a species apart, stained by hostile mirth,

poisons and torments those from earth.

Quarta sezione

Because truth can be so easily 

misplaced—like extinguishing a teardrop 

of flame on a candle between a thumb 

and forefinger, one never dares to lie 

when confronting the Grand Deceiver.

SOME NOTES OF A RELIGIOUS NATURE

Jesus was sent

to die for our sins

like some package

from UPS.

He delivered the goods

to humanity

and we delivered him

back to Heaven

battered, beaten,

mutilated.

Some creation 

we turned out to be.