All Souls in Secret Saved
reluctant poem in blank verse
All souls seek hell or heaven, said the preacher
to the faithful gathered warm within the glass.
And we looked out and saw them gross, unloved,
despised, benighted; those who murder, those
who soil and twist, who steal and beggar; cheat;
befoul. How dare they claim humanity? we said.
Not Philistines; not Pharisees. Not those, and please,
not them. All souls do not include the ones
we do not like; must not embrace the ones we
do not know, or have not met or have not
cared for. (That one, that time, hurt our feelings;
others wore the colors we don’t like.)
All Hallows Eve means dress the wicked up
as ghouls; parade them through the living lights
and houses; show them forth as damned and doomed.
So give us candy, preacher, candy! We
are better than the wicked; we are saved
and holy; we are blood and bone and brain;
and they are cold and death and pain.
