I’ve spent enough time on my knees
\nas a monk
\nto see that there’s value in being
\nboth drunk
\non life as a pilgrim and life as a
\na rascal.
\nBut can I live both, to the best
\nthat I’m able?<\/p>\n
When I left for the cloister, to
\nnever go back,
\nI took nothing with me,
\njust books in a sack.
\nDiscarded my dreams and all
\nmy deep vices.
\nTore my old dark soul up in bites
\nand in slices,
\nassuming I’d never leave, return
\n‘to my home’.
\nNever to wander more.
\nNever to roam.<\/p>\n
I spent many weeks and months,
\nworking at prayer,
\nbeing a better man
\nthan I had brought there.
\nI worked and I cared for the pilgrims
\nwho came.
\nI learned to live and love life
\nwithout shame.
\nBut one winter’s day the hour came
\nand I knew,
\nI wasn’t to be a monk. That
\ncertainty grew.<\/p>\n
I put on my sandals and,
\nbooks in a sack,
\nI closed my old cloister door,
\nhaven’t looked back.<\/p>\n
Last night I sat down with friends.
\nWe smoked and we drank.
\nWe told our old stories
\nwith swagger and swank.
\nI told of my peace and they spoke
\nof their smut.
\nI showed them a picture of me
\nin my habit.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow I’ll have roamed to church,
\nwhere my friends they won’t be.
\nbut I’ll make that old gesture,
\nfrom down on one knee.
\nI’ll give there my thanks,
\nas best as I’m able,
\nfor a life that is lived,
\na semi-holy old rascal.<\/p>\n
You see,<\/p>\n
I’ve spent enough time on my knees
\nas a monk
\nto see that there’s value in being
\nboth drunk
\non life as a pilgrim and life as a
\na rascal.
\nAnd I plan to live both, to the best
\nthat I’m able.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve spent enough time on my knees as a monk to see that there’s value in being both drunk on life as a pilgrim and life as a a rascal. But can I live both, to the best that I’m able? When I left for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1052,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1052"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48195,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48162\/revisions\/48195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}