THE NATIONS RULERS

After the mad laughter
is heard in Hell

of Nebuchadnezzar
to worship after Baal's image
in his age we can tell
that before the fiery furnace
for three Hebrews all is well,
here in the third heaven
we hear divine messengers
with their angelic wings
by Bezaleel and Ezekiel
who bring us to holy tabernacles
for our unique offerings,
life flows as bright stars
swinging back and forth
from tracks of Europe
in the South and North

as the Hungarian officers
mount on horseback

with the rider hussar's whip

by the Czar's sparring racks
with rope from the Cossacks,
the morning bell is heard
for the conscripted army
signed by the Kaiser's censorship,
in the West and East
under the agrarian flames
Stalin and Hitler's as gods
became scorpions and beasts
in the sectarian worship of man
giving out Party cards
with a master plan
for class and race began
and a totalitarian chorus
of the egalitarian populace
rises before their firing squads
are all in the stands
here are all the names
of tall statues from the exodus
with always breaking news
in an awakening glorious history
in the Word story of the Hebrews
not saving face from famous rulers
who ruled over their nation states
but giving glory to the King
we remember to high heaven
those whose skillful poets
who sing of faith and power
Milton, Donne,Dickinson
Anna Akhmatova
St. Teresa of Avila
our charismatic daughters
and St. John of the Cross
a son whose living water
distills as showered conduits
as our night visions fulfills
waiting on the holy Carmelites
unwilling to bow down
nor eat the dross or leaven
but choose freedom over loss
as we pass over to Peter's gate
yet like Esther or Mordecai
wearing a golden scepter crown.