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Success
O slavery to thralldom “Usefulness”,
Instant achievement's crown is everything,
With frantic elbow jostling for success,
Till luncheon salads to the earphones cling.
Or grow out of the ears while cell phones shrill,
"Where have you been?" - the boss asks the young clerk.
“You won’t succeed,- be social null and nil,
There is no time for thinking - back to work!.
A word so long forgot - “Gratuitousness”-
Kenosis,- selfless giving, sweet and pure;-
It’s put to death, en route to quick success,
For visionaries mean discomfiture.
A father shoves the wheelchair of his boy,
Cut from a rope, for dad's ambition high,
Drove to despair, and neither can enjoy
The glorious day, nor days swift passing by.
It’s not - methinks - what the Apostle meant,
When speaking of his running in a race,-
His championship caused no bewilderment,
And he ran on a track, not in a maze.
I do not need to be a big success,
Nor strenuously labor to achieve,
But only do my task with faithfulness
In everything I do in joy or grief.
The Sermon of the Mount requires not
Accomplishment, - success, - but willingness
To turn in sorrow or defeat to God,
Who remedies our failures with largesse.
The chores imposed on us to do are not
To revel in success and thrill thereof,
But faithfully allow our gracious God
To transform them by His infinite love.
