Take Me Kindly

Take Me Kindly
by Douglas Gilbert

Oh God, who will
save me now
when I have blown
myself away
with fried chatter-brains
and I have no liver, or
onions.

Oh God, when they
ridiculed me, You
forsaked me, and I
had to kill them all.

Digging for me is
an arduous chore

but I’ve decided
to be grave
without gravitas.

I like this meadow
that no one
would choose for me.

I take with me
a pocket full of seeds

and I lay myself out
in this hole I’ve dug.

I’ve rigged a dumpster
of dirt with a rope

so I can pull down
my burial.

I plant myself, and
I know you condemn me
for my failures, but

you pompous ones,
there is a certain pleasure
that I will meet you in hell

and you will be much greater
than I in crimes.

Oh hell.
Maybe you could explain it
again, and maybe I
could love you.

I Have the Blues (Draft 1)

I Have the Blues

I have seen depression
on the back of a cockroach, and
the insect doesn’t believe in God.

I must guard you, because
the insect is a gossip, and
vents his spleen against Kafka.

You might lose faith in God
and me if you listen to him.

Let me exterminate your doubts
with a kiss from God
and from me.

— Douglas Gilbert

J’ai le Blues et J’ai le Cafard

J’ai le Blues

J’ai le cafard, et
l’insecte ne croit pas en Dieu.

Je dois te protéger, parce que
l’insecte est un commère, et
évents sa rate.

Vous pourriez perdre la foi en Dieu
et moi.

Laissez-moi exterminer vos doutes
avec un baiser de Dieu
et de moi.
——
I have the cockroach*, and
the insect does not believe in God.

I have to protect you, because
the insect is a gossip, and
vents his spleen.

You could lose faith in God
and me.

Let me exterminate your doubts
with a kiss of God
and of me.

*”I have the cockroach” in French also means “I have the blues”

— Douglas Gilbert

The Lies (Draft 1)

The Lies (Draft 1)

Oh geez it hurts so much
hurts so much, sing the chorus now

hurts so much, yeah it
hurts so much

had a girl
and she went away

thought she’d be a goddess
and now she doesn’t love me
and neither does God.

He’s thrown me away
and she doesn’t believe in me

Sing it, sing it, sing it:

Oh geez it hurts so much
hurts so much, sing the chorus now

hurts so much, yeah it
hurts so much

Oh God, who is never around when I need you,
you are absent and irrelevant because you have no power in the real world.

You have no weapons against the evil that I see.
When I call for you, you never come.

You can not ever be seen as benevolent
when pain is so endless.

And this pain is such a hell
that I fear not more,

I just fear that
there has never been love
at all, and

existence is a lie.

Sing it, sing it, sing it:

Oh geez it hurts so much
hurts so much, sing the chorus now

hurts so much, yeah it
hurts so much

And nobody has
ever prayed for me —
I don’t even think she did

Love has gone away
and there’s nowhere to pray

There’s already hell here
and what would there be

I think I’d rather have a Goddess.

had a girl
and she went away

thought she’d be a goddess
and now she doesn’t love me
and neither does any God
of any kind or
any kindness, because I know

Oh geez it hurts so much
hurts so much, sing the chorus now

hurts so much, yeah it
hurts so much

If she is not a goddess
who is?

But anyway,
I don’t want to worship

I just want to love.

— Douglas Gilbert

Empty Is The Sky

So Empty Is The Sky And I Am Dark

Oh God, who is never around when I need you,
you are absent and irrelevant because you have no power in the real world.

You have no weapons against the evil that I see.
When I call for you, you never come.

You can not ever be seen as benevolent
when pain is so endless.

And this pain is such a hell
that I fear not more,

I just fear that
there has never been love
at all, and

existence is a lie.

— Douglas Gilbert

Prose: ” IRANIAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ” : A paraphrase and transmutation of an old document for a different place

IRANIAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

OK, apparently, someone was searching for this prose entry. The search terms that they used don’t seem to work, so I’m re-posting it. If you read the FULL “American Declaration of Independence” and not just the famous quotes, it’s very idiosyncratic and linked to issues of those times when it was written. The references to “the merciless Indian savages” are now embarrassing so no one actually reads the full document. So anyway, I tried to imagine how it would look in a modern context in a different place with different local issues. I tried to imagine how such a document would be written in Iran.

     Whereas, the present Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his evil endeavors has a history of repeated injuries and usurpations against the people, the people are absolved from allegiance to this tyrant and to his Guardian Council.
     The people of Iran in consanguinity with Mohammed are the voice of justice protected by Divine Providence.
     When it is shown that a leader is possessed by Demons of unreason and treachery, it is the duty of the people to rebel and declare their rights under Allah.
     In evidence of his evil, we list the crimes of his regime, and declare our independence from his tyranny.
     In every stage of his oppression, we have petitioned, in the most humble terms, but to no avail.
     He has excited domestic insurrections by our militia children, merciless Basiji savages whose only rule of warfare is the destruction of all ages and sexes by any means most terrible.
     He has called together legislative bodies at secret locations for the sole purpose of oppressing the people with ominous and obscure laws that fatigue them into compliance.
     He has dissolved meetings repeatedly for opposing in good conscience his invasions on the human rights of the people.
     He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing an independent judiciary.
     He has erected a multitude of offensive agents, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people and seize their property.
     He has affected to render the Revolutionary Guard independent of, and superior to, any elected civil power, or any powers reserved for the people.
     He has sent militias and armed vigilantes into our homes to destroy property and murder our people, but yet the Ayatollah protects the militias and vigilantes from punishment, he, himself, complicit in their vile crimes and murders.
     He is, at this time, transporting large militias, secret police, and other unidentified agents to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
     Furthermore:
      Whereas, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by Allah with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
     Whereas, crimes against humanity have been committed in the name of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his Guardian Council, and compliant clerics, we the people by the authority of Allah, do declare the following:
       Henceforth, any clergy following the dictates, directly or indirectly, of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, whether by complicity with evil elements of the Basiji, Revolutionary Guards, or Army, or by silence, and who shall not follow the path of peace, laying down their arms, in command or in weaponry, shall be subject to exile or execution by the Nascent Sea of Green forming by God’s will, witnessed by the world in Revelation.
     Peace be with you. God is Great.

— Douglas Gilbert

The Last Atheist

The Last Atheist

You are the only magic
that I believe in,
my dear wife who still prays
when I don’t

Peek-a-boo
I see you
in I.C.U.

I find joy in watching you hug
the many tenets of your faith like
teddy bears of God, because
your cuteness is kind.

You smile
and I see in our flowing eyes
you are my talisman, my
magic pool, and
I swim in you

but stay, and though you pray, I
don’t want a higher power. I
want you to
tell me a story, to
stay with me at my bed, and
I think that

the growing grape
doesn’t care
about the wine, cares not
to make a point — no spirits
in these many things of nature, but

I’m intoxicated by your spirit
your smile. Hug me like
I’m a teddy bear of God
and I make

a toast from the brink of death:
show me the magic
before I go drink oblivion
and tell me the lie
you’ll never leave me

You are the
only magic
I believe in

But I will die
little
a point vanishing
nothing remaining for me.
To myself
I will have never been

and if I ever loved you
I will not know

and if you ever loved me
I will not feel it because
to me, I will have never existed

I will be forever nothing
unless

you could save me forever
not as a memory
but as me, myself
and we — I mind that
I could not kiss you
if I were a mist in time

Show me the magic
or hearty spirits, but

I do not wish to haunt you, and
you deserve more than dust

Must you go from me or
must I go as a vapor?

Show me the magic,
woman of my dreams.
I swim in you.

Before I go far out of my mind
you must tell me a lie:
tell me you are God, though

perhaps
you could be my angel

Perhaps
your spirit will carry me to heaven —

seems plausible
for an angel, and
you are beautiful magic
but

how will I kiss you again
if you won’t teach me
the magic of your tales. Explain the
phosphorescent creatures in your fables
who swim in seas of ineffables
and let me drink your glow
if these be souls

Show me the magic:
any miracle will do.
I believe in you.

Be happy for now, and
don’t miss me.
I will have never been.
Good-bye.
—Douglas Gilbert

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