Friday, March 24, 2006

Dogmatics of Love

Dogmatics of Love

The razor of my circumstance
In the hands of change and time
Cuts either way – to kill or enhance
Pilgrim’s love or soldier’s crime
The slip-slide of existence
Dictates to my self constructions
The fear of death’s persistence
Life comes with no instructions

Dogmatics of Love
I want to hold you until I burn
Dogmatics of Love
I want to give away, to discern
Dogmatics of Love
To crush no one, to love you true
To hurt no one, to say what I do

Anxiety of self-construction
My Hero Me a project failing
I make your name curse – reduction
Worship you with sentiment flailing
Lip service snarls when love requires
More than the usual rhetoric
Tiny tongue sets such forest fires
While what I do makes me sick

Dogmatics of Love
I want to hold you until I burn
Dogmatics of Love
I want to give away, to discern
Dogmatics of Love
To crush no one, to love you true
To hurt no one, to say what I do
Why’s it so damn hard
To love them, God to love you?

A little child shall lead them
But what about corrupted men like me?
Is my love spit, my faith phlegm
Floating on the violent sea
I fly up against you, hungry and mean
I try to die, but can’t let it go
And at last I despair, I’ve seen
I am far more than what I know

Dogmatics of Love
I want to hold you until I burn
Dogmatics of Love

I say save me, but I won’t let go
I say save me, but I won’t let go…
Let go!

Jesus is a curse word, Jesus is my life
Jesus is a curse word, Jesus is my life
You’ve forgiven me, but I need to see
How to live, and love, in this short life

Dogmatics of Love
I want to hold you until I burn
Dogmatics of Love
I want to hold you until I burn…
I’m letting go.
Come on, Come on, Come in.
In love. In love. In love. In love.
I want to hold you until I --

5 comments:

Tom said...

Are you the poet? Follow me to my blog and click on "Projects" under "About Me." We have a common interest.

Jon Trott said...

Yes, if "poet" is the right word for what appears to be more a lyric. (And no wonder, I listen a lot to Midnight Oil, and was doing so while writing "Dogmatics of Love".)

Gabriel Marcel? Is that our shared interest? I sure would love to see you blog on that, or comment here on him. I find more and more to identify with in Kierkegaard as I get older; the sort of college-age "cool because he's obscure" thing wore off long ago, but it has taken me this long to finally get into him as a deeply Christian thinker. Marcel I found because of Keirkegaard and existentialism, then became even more intrigued with because of his links to Francois Mauriac, an obscure (to Americans) novelist from France who just happens to have won the Nobel Prize (1952, I think). Mauriac is the most Christian novelist I know of, yet almost always avoids either sentimentalism or preachments. And it was him who apparently led Marcel toward faith...

I am not a Kreeft fan, I confess. Probably because there is no more obnoxious Catholic than the converted Protestant, and because though I drink more from Catholic wells than Protestant ones these days, I also cannot (and will probably never) be able to comprehend Catholicism re celebacy, sexuality, women, and so on. Of course, I'm even more annoyed with the Southern Baptists on their treatment of women. At least the Catholics have Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, and Teresa of Avila (to name a few).

Blessings,
jon

Tom said...

Appreciate the in-depth response; maybe I will blog on Marcel one of these days. I don't think you found the link I was referring to: www.narrowridge.com (not the blog)

I see we also share another interest in music; Midnight Oil kept me company on many a road trip.

Jon Trott said...

Hmm. I think I get your drift more now. For others reading here, I quote from narrowridge.com :

"Narrow Ridge is a loose gathering of artists, dedicated to the incarnational potency of the narrative; Narrow Ridge creates films and documentaries that seek to expose, and perhaps offer some healing to the fratricidal struggle at the heart of the world."

And your project of doing a movie / film (am I getting that right?) on Marcel, Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas (whom I confess I've not read)... it sounds really interesting.

Please keep us posted over here.

Blessings.

Tom said...

Point of interest: Kreeft is currently writing a book about Gabriel Marcel, due out this fall.