Poem: "Pilgrim's Progress"

1
Somewhere
where some of us
have learned
to sit still

the sum
of us
waits for
days like this

to become
every soul's
last known
whereabouts

2
You can't go home again
is an opinion held
by those who have never been
at home with themselves.

3
Revelation is a building permit:
Permission is granted
to make of yourself

the home
you have spent your life so far
failing to find.
 
4
Finders keepers
of the flame
no god would keep
for himself

Losers weepers
of the blame
no man has need for
once he is all

that remains

5
Home is habitat
where it is habit
to find what you need.

Lately it strikes you
the universe is designed
for competence.

6
Knock and the door shall open.
Ask and you shall receive.
How much clearer can the hanged man be
that every prayer for guidance is the answer to itself.

7
I can't sleep in rooms with crucifixes.
It isn't fair to leave a man stranded in agony.
Take him down and call an ambulance.
Resurrection is the good sense
to save the life of a man
who once saved yours.

--David Federman, Ardmore, February 23, 2014