O stigma
of his bells;
the leper’s limp
our calls,
his marks from hell;
is just a leap of faith
darkly blind to faults of own.
O stigma
of his marks;
rejoice, rejoice;
he is sent to bless us:
cleaning filth
from frozen hearts.
The hypocrites by Gustave Dore
Hello all, today we open the doors again to dVerse. Grace hosts with a Quadrille and the word leap. The poem shall be exactly 44 words and include the word leap.
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January 1, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Wow! Powerful comparison here of the stigmas, which I didn’t get until the second reading.
This is poetry! You twist and turn your reader with irony and sound and truth – all with just 44 well-chosen words. And as a lover of the spoken word, I rejoice, rejoice that you included a sound cloud This is one of your best!
I hope to do more recordings going forward…
Excellent!
Hypocricy is a pest indeed and often immune to wisdom and healing. Smart write here.
As it ever was. Powerful and subtle.
This is a difficult poem for me, so well-crafted and delivered. I’ve read it again and again and for me, its power lies in the parallelism between the marks, the leper’s limp, and our calls — how they are all profoundly connected and rooted in sin. And not the leper’s sin… Great first poem of the year.
Expertly crafted, Bjorn, especially the contrasts of the stigmas.:
‘…marks from hell;
is just a leap of faith’
and
‘he is sent to bless us:
cleaning filth
from frozen hearts’.
Love the powerful meaning of that stigma and the read Bjorn ~ The twist in the meaning of stigma of the first and second verse is excellent.
I like your use of stigma. Very subtle. And there is a link between leap and leper, that chime in the words.
As above I am intrigued by the two stigmas and the interplay. Great poem.
This made me think of something G.K. Chesterton would have written–soul-searching and deeply theological, like the cutting of a scalpel right into the abscess.
So powerful a reading, too.
Thank you… I have not read Chesterton… but I might have been influence by reading Borges during my hiatus.
I like the idea of the leper cleaning filth from other’s frozen hearts.
Oh, well written and wonderfully conceived!
I love how you juxtapose the disease and the sacrifice.
Happy New Year!
Happy new year… and hope to sea a quadrille from you 🙂
Love the ending, such powerful imagery… this is a poem to be read again and again.
Do hurry up with your cleaning efforts! Very nice.
“cleaning filth from frozen hearts…love the sharpness of this line
A riveting piece.
Palpable and piercing, Bjorn! You hold nothing back this New Year’s day! 🙂
Smart write, indeed, Bjorn! Perfect pic to go with.
A great entrance to 2018. Thoroughly enjoyed this and had to re read it several times.
Well, that is a cheery thought to kick off the new year! I too like the twists in this one.
I love your reading of it. And what a great link to Dante and the hypocrites. This gets deeper and deeper the more you read it.
I enjoyed listening to it in your own voice. Such a powerful poetry!
I may want to quote this poem shortly …
This is so beautiful and powerful and it means a lot as I used to work as the administrator of a leprosy project in Malawi where both leprosy and HIV were full of stigma. Happy New Year Björn, may it bring you many blessings :o)
Powerful irony! Isn’t it amazing what heals! Loved the recording of it.
Perhaps the poor and needy are give for that very reason….to keep our hearts of frozen indifference from becoming permanent! Good thought for all.
Dwight
Vivid, thoughtful poem. Stigma in the eyes (and beliefs) of the beholders.
Excellent! This is one that requires multiple readings to let it sink in.