The Cowardly Lion's Bravery
"Do it or don't do it -- you will regret both."--after
Kierkegaard
"No good deed goes unpunished."--Proverbial
The Wizard granted his wish--
the man behind the curtain gave him a set of cojones
that could be bronzed and turned into cathedral clangers--
but his greatest act of courage was not to kill and eat,
not even to face down a field filled with junkie monkeys
it was simply to say "No, I do not have to do that,
I will face the fear of the dark rather than the horrid certainty
of bland and semiprofitable daylight."
Dorothy kisses him and says "You are my hero,"
but he is terrified, only he can see inside the gestures of refusal
both full and vain, the promise only to suffer
no matter how he chooses
the promise of privation no matter how he chooses
he has chosen to embrace by refusal
finally
the supreme cruelty of the world
not the nonexistence of God
but the Creature's moral nullity.
He has learned he cannot win.
Even if he does not inhale the perfume
of the poppy field, the monkeys
will still fly about, the bulbs will sprout,
they will be in the world.
Even if he assassinates a witch
the witch will regenerate like all vileness
is reborn in a new host.
And her skin will be greener
but may be impervious to water.
KTW/5-10-06
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Kenneth Wolman www.kenwolman.com rainermaria.typepad.com
I wouldn't want to have lived without having offended someone.--Anon.
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