Jim Davis poem: 68 Lines, to my classmates on the death of Father Dunne

June 10, 2014

(See item in blog notes: Father John Dunne died in November, 2013)


The Daily Domer obituary
Got me walking to Engineering,
And when I went inside I remembered
Where I sat, not something he said,

Although from my seat I could see him
Up front, and close up after class,
Then I imagined him at the end,
In bed, eyes closed, bearded, no beret.

I had read "The Circle Dance of Time," but
Still wondered what he boiled after death
Down to before his death.
Now, I see the class blog mentions

His last book, "Eternal Consciousness," and
I figure, if someone bedside dared ask,
"You're still thinking light, right?"
He would not say over and out.

Where do you and I need to be at the end?
Do we have some leeway?
Whaddaya think?  Of course, we got leeway.
God made leeway.  So, don't avoid

Questions in twilight, even if you're set,
You guys, with your families and hobbies and ways,
By now, if you don't cheat on your wife, you might
Even eat the hell that goes with heaven,

Rather than trust God to love all your issues.
Anyway, whatever you've been thinkin',
Take this basic question from Father Dunne,
Whether death leads to light we will know, or

Dark we won't -- let's call that nothing -- it's where
He brings Christ to the plate to swing for light.
Wanna hit for yourself?  Le'me tellya,
Light is good anyway you can get it.

When my stroke started, I knew nothing, 
And it wasn't the nice thing Father Dunne
Called the void in the stillness.  Was it
The no thing Alzamora was shouting about

At 2 in the morning during exam week,
When he looked at me, all anger,
Held out his fist, and exclaimed,
"I know there is nothing!  Nothing!"?

Me?  I never got to nothing before
Or after my stroke, and now I see things
At night in the dark, eyes open or closed,
I can summon them if they don't appear,

Achromatic crumbs morph into faces,
Against the black background, mostly grotesques,
Laughing and talking, but I can't hear'em.  
Odd stuff.  Charles Bonnet syndrome? 

Or something I shouldn't yet know?
They're nothing my doctors wanna talk about.
Is silence speaking to the impure heart?
Don't know.  Hope I never see'em in my car.

I think they're a wiring issue that
May or may not affect anyone's take
On what I'm talking about, as I  
Lean toward light as a matter of policy.  

And if death leads to Eternity, but
Once we're there we can't tell,
That's not the worst result I can think of,
As I ponder my nighttime visions.

Can this case be settled?
Are all the Hindus wrong?
Do I have to do a better job of living?
I've now read the last book, which says

Eternal life is more than we can tell,
But not than we can know.  And we do that
How, Jim?   The way you do it or don't.  And 
Keep an eye out for clues, in God's presence.

Copyright © 2013, J. M. Davis
All rights reserved

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.